| When I bought this 1764 Breviarium Pars Verna, I was hoping to identify the binder or workshop that produced this elaborate dentelle. However at this time in the beginning of 2010 just after I had managed to secure it on eBay, a terrible cyclone ravaged the island on which I was living, disrupting everything that I was doing and delaying greatly the research I was planning. Months later, I scanned only the covers and then somehow managed over the years to misplace the original eBay photos, now 10 years later all that I had was a file named 1764. It was however a high resolution scan that I used often in the last few years as I knew that it was an ETAT binding i.e. by Pierre Delorme. Finally now I decided to search every jpg file in my backups, and at long last found the original eBay photos to prove in fact that this binding was from 1764. This Breviarium may have been bound in 1764 however researching this publication in the WorldCat appears to indicate only two editions, this one in 1764 and one in 1774 both were in either Latin or English. Thus it could have been a sort of collectors item that was bound or rebound with this decorative binding some years after publication. For the moment however, I assume that this binding was probably made around 1764. |
| At the present time I am unable to access again this binding however the eBay photos appear to show the presence of blue silk endpapers and an inner dentelle roulette very similar if not identical to the Dubuisson example that we have studied in the previous pages. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1, we have resized the eBay photo to match the 600dpi scan and then made an appproximate scale to account for the perspective distortion of the photo at the same time doing the same sort of distortion with the Dubuisson roulette. In these manipulations we are trying to establish whether or not the units of these dentelles are of the same size. A look at the enlargement seems to show that although these units are approximately the same size, the 3 ring centers appear smaller in the Dubuisson example. These differences could be partially due to what looks to be a heavy handed application of this roulette in the case of the Breviarium with a surplus of gold swelling the imprint. Here we really need a scan to decide the matter, someday I will get someone to send me this binding, and solve this problem, however for the moment it is a close call. |
| When I was finally able to see the imprints of this binding enlarged with high resolution scans, it was a great revelation, here was Dubuisson's so called trident that Michon made such a huge hoopla about, claiming it to be certain proof of a Derome binding, when in fact all of Michon's so called Derome bindings with this tool in evidence were decorated by Dubuisson, and or Dubuisson's successor Delorme. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3 we see a nearly perfect example of this imprint that was one of Delorme's favorites, found on nearly every one of his dentelle bindings. |
| In Comparative Diagram 4 we compare Juberts jj-8 with Delorme's del-8. I have given it this catalogue number, not because of the shape of the tool but rather because it functions like Jubert's jj-8. You can identify many of Juberts bindings by the presence of this tool. Similarly with del-8 you can easily identify a Delorme binding. I have shown a good example of this imprint on a mosaic binding, see page 8 Comparative Diagram 4. |
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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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