| The reproduction of the Delorme mosaic shown above is from the Bibliotheque nationale de France (click here to see it). We have already examined this binding of a previous page (click here to see this) however we did not yet discuss the doublure decoration of this binding. What we know is that this binding has so much in common with the other mosaics that we have looked at in these pages, that it is almost certain that Delorme had a hand in the decoration. We cannot however, rule out the possibility that Pierre-Paul Dubuisson was the decorator, certainly the majority of the imprints found on this mosaic derive from his tools. This issue may finally be resolved when we find out when it was actually made. The doublure may help us in this regard. The BnF describes this binding as being from an unidentified workshop c. 1760. Below I show this doublure as well as the BnF notes and description. |
| What we learn from the BnF data above, is that the arms on the doublure belong to Louis-Léon de Brancas, 3rd duc de Lauraguais, 6th duc de Villars, he was a French general and author, and a member of the French Academy of Sciences. They also state/claim that in comparison to the mosaic on the exterior the doublure inside was not well executed. I had not looked at this doublure for a long while although I often wondered who the corner tool belonged to as it does not appear in the Dubuisson collection. However since that time I have worked on the bindings of René-François Fétil, a good number of which have been decorated with this same unusual framing roulette. I have detailed this on another page (click here to see it) on that page I also detailed the large roulette seen in this doublure, it turns out to be a very common Fetil/Douceur tool and it is strange that it was not recognized by the 'experts' at the BnF, (comparable to a used car dealer not recognizing a Mercedes). |
| Erick Aguirre recently sent me the photos shown in Comparative Diagram 2, here we see another doublure with the same Fetil roulettes and the same arms of Louis-Léon de Brancas, in a decorative binding (reliure a repetition) that no one even suspected could have been made by anyone other than Derome le jeune thanks to Louis-Marie Michon. It now is starting to look like Derome never made this kind of decorative binding at all! These bindings were made by Delorme, because according to the research of Erick Aguirre, this binding was made sometime between 1762 and 1764. This seems now a very reasonable guess that aligns with what we are finding in our research of the tools. |
| We now learn that there are at least three of these exotic mosaic bindings found on rare old printings with the arms of Louis-Léon de Brancas, it would not surprise me if he was the person who commisioned most of these rare and expensive luxury bindings, however according to Wikipedia, he was finally forced to sell off his luxury collection of books to pay for his scientific experiments (I can see that). |
| In Comparative Diagram 4, we compare two (A and B) 1764 Delorme imprints del-7, scanned at 1200 dpi with the BnF mosaic RES-H-2014 (C) and finally (D) the mosaic Constitutiones where the photo is blurry but we can see that the negative shape is close. A high resolution scan of these bindings would eliminate all doubts. What we don't know is what was Fetil's role in all of this, was he the go between for Brancas (Lauraguais)? |
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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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