| The reproduction shown above is from the best catalogue that I ever was lucky enough to own... and you can view the whole thing online with archive.org (click on the information below to see it) |
| This catalogue that is over one hundred years old, contains a large number of stunning reproductions, that are probably better than having the actual bindings to look at. Today you cannot find any modern publication that can match this quality... why do I harp on this point? because we think we are so advanced today with all of our modern technology, yet in the field of published reproductions we have returned to the stone age (end of rant). |
| On a previous page we examined the Erasmus binding No. 42 shown in Comparative Diagram 1, (click here to see it). The reproduction of that binding is found in a 1955 Catalogue, and although a wonderful catalogue the quality of the reproduction does not permit a close examination of the imprints, we can make only approximate comparisons, still it was very important to chronical this rare binding that shared important imprints with the signed Plumet binding 174. (click here to see the Plumet signed binding) |
| In Comparative Diagram 2, I have assembled bindings that have shared tools, for the moment we can refer to them as Plumet bindings. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3, I have started to catalogue the Plumet imprints, this is quite complicated as it involves Barber's catalogue numbers, but as he has not given each of the pairs a name, I have named them. Some of these tools are found in Douceur bindings, such as FR 2, these can be seen in his 1755 binding for Madame Pompadour (click here to see this). However one imprint is only a copy of a Douceur tool, FR 44. The FR 44 imprint is difficult to extract due to other imprints overlaping it, particularly the uppermost tip is never free of encumbrances, and I have had to guesstimate what it may have looked like, further to this Barber's type models for this particular pair, have obviously derived from poorly executed examples. |
| In Comparative Diagram 4, we compare Barber's FR 44. Type models with imprints from binding No. 77. One of the 77 imprints shown here is also poorly stamped, the result is a doubled imprint, Barber's imprints are very thick at the top for this reason, you are actualy seeing two imprints overlaying each other and at a slight angle to each other, therefore the top is doubled but the bottom is less so. Click on this image to see the 600dpi enlargement, there you can better see this doubling. |
| In as much as Douceur had a similar tool it is imperative that we know exactly the shape of FR 44. In Comparative Diagram 5 I have conducted a number of tests to try to determine if the 77 imprints are actually the same as FR 44, I did this because as you will see in the enlargements, the overlays indicate a less than perfect match. |
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It is really amazing that there are really so few individual tools that have been employed to make this elaborate dentelle, we need to be absolutely certain that some of these tools are or not also found in Douceur bindings, such is the case of FR 2 shown in Comparative Diagram 6, this looks to be the same tool as found in some of Douceurs later bindings. Barber has recorded it as FR 2 and the examples found in binding 77 apear to be the same as Barber's type model. Now I was going to add the imprints from the first Erasme binding No. 42 to our Plumet catalogue, when I had the clever idea of searching for Erasme, - L'Eloge de la Folie - 1751 in the several Sourget catalogues that I have at home . A search of the internet turned up some interesting bindings, however nothing dramatic. As I was looking through the Sourget indexes I noticed that Erasme enteries were few and far between, then almost at the end of catalogues, bingo I hit another Plumet! WOW... that, I am going to show you on the next page. |
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click here to return to the HOME page. click here to see an INDEX of the 2017 pages. see below links to previous work |
| Even experts are sometimes wrong, before you spend thousands on a book, please do your own research! Just because I say a certain binding can be attributed to le Maitre isn't any kind of guarantee, don't take my word for it, go a step further and get your own proof. In these pages I have provided you with a way of doing just that. |
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