| I found this binding on eBay, it looked very much like a post Douceur binding so I snapped it up and could hardly wait to get it on the scanner. Here at last was a way to get highly accurate measurements of these imprints. On the previous page I have detailed the imprints of bindings with similar imprints, now we can test them all. The three photos shown above are from the seller's eBay page. |
| Here is a 1200dpi scan of the imprint that is found accompanying the centerpiece of this 1775 binding. Last year I bought two Douceur bindings on eBay and made a series of pages to cover a wide range of Douceur bindings from his early work up to the post Douceur period. We did not see this imprint in any of the Douceur bindings that we examined. Gilles Barber has also made an intensive study of Douceur bindings and imprints and he did not record this imprint in his catalogue although he found one that is similar. |
| In his book Catalogue of Printed Books and Bookbindings : The James A. de Rothschild Bequest at Waddesdon Manor, published in 2013, Giles Barber has presented an extensive tool catalogue, or rather a catalogue of the imprints from tools. In Comparative Diagram 1, we see the only Barber example of this type of imprint, DCT 26, he notes that it was found in a binding signed by Derome (his ticket found inside) W.Cat. 454, however Derome did not decorate this binding, this binding was decorated by Gosselin with his own tools, the imprint DCT 26 derives from a Gosselin tool. You will notice that our 1775 example is very much like the Gosselin imprint, one is a copy of the other. Louis Chenu had this sort of tool and used it extensively well before Gosselin, it could possibly be viewed as signature tool for Chenu that makes his work instantly recognizable. Our 1775 example will be an important clue in our attempt to identify this post Douceur binder. |
| The next obvious important imprint also seen in the centerpiece is shown in Comparative Diagram 2. Barber shows a number of examples of this type however none are exactly the same as this one, that is also seen in binding No. 232 shown on the previous page. also seen in the decoration of a 1781 Almanach (click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to see it) where it has been used in a similar relationship with the centerpiece. Again the fact that Barber has not recorded this particular example indicating that it is not a common Douceur tool and could be helpful in pinpointing the identity of this post Douceur binder. The green arrows in Comparative Diagram 2, are pointing to a discontinuity. Letters A and B indicating a difference in the terminations, the left being larger than the right and C, a possible break in the wreath. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3, I include 1783 binding that we have looked at previously (click here to see it). This binding lacks the corner imprint d-12, and although it seems quite different from the 1775 example it shares a few important imprints particularly in the spine compartments. |
| In Comparative Diagram 4 we compare the spine panels of the 1783 binding with our 1775 binding. Even though the 1783 reproduction is quite limited in it's quality, we can clearly see that some of the same tools have been employed. These similarities are so striking that I am tempted to guess that the binding and decoration of this 1775 publication may have occured some years after 1775. The fact that these two bindings are so closely linked also suggests that Plumet C may have been the author of these bindings. On the next page we will try to assemble a complete inventory of these 1775 imprints. |
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| 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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