| The reproduction of the binding shown is found on on an interesting web site calling themselves HPI, Histoire par l'image (click here to see it). |
| I found another site that explains the history of these books in English (click here to see it ) they state... |
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"The Livre Rouge (or 'Red Register') was Louis XVI's personal (secret) account book. In 1790 the National Assembly ordered that it be examined and published, to inform the public about French royal spending: Summary of the Livre Rouge The total amount entered in the Red Book from May 19th 1774 to August 16th 1789 is 227,983,716 livres, 10 sous and one denier." |
| From the combined information here I was able to deduct that the first of the three items shown is a 1774 Delorme, a multi-plaque binding similar in many ways to the ones we have examined on the previous pages, that served from 1774 to 1789, the second item (shown at the top of this page was thought to date to 1760 and the third, is one that locks, said to be from 1750, and this one is certainly the work of Dubuisson. Now the binding at the top of our page has some things in common with the bindings shown on the previous page. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1, we see that almost all of the tools are those of Dubuisson however there are a few tools that could be Delorme tools, the corner tool is definitely suspect and the outer roulette also. This binding is certainly on the cusp of post Dubuisson bindings. If we could see the contents of this book we are certain to get an answer on this question... i. e. was it made after 1762? |
| On the next page we are going to look at a sumptious 1770 Delorme binding decorated with these same Dubuisson 1750 tools to create this same look 2 decades later. |
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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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