| The reproduction shown above can be found in the British Library Database of Bookbindings (click here to see it). A small detail caught my eye on this binding and stayed in the back of my mind until just now when I was looking at one of my old Delorme pages (click here to see this page). On that page I was detailing the binding shown below, and pointing out why it was more than just a Dubuisson binding, there are additional tools that were not normally used by Dubuisson. |
| Below in Comparative Diagram 1, I show this small floral branch pair, that is found on both bindings. These may actually be Dubusson tools however I do not remember seeing them, if they are Delorme tools this would be an important discovery. In any case the attribution of this binding to Padeloup is totaly inexplicable, we see not a single trace of anything that belongs to Padeloup, however the outer framing roulette palette (Barber's PAL 59) is clearly that of Dubuisson as we have shown on the previous pages. Even if Louis-Marie Michon was here with us today he would agree that this binding was not made by Padeloup but inform us that it is obviously the work of Derome le jeune, due to the fact that he was unaware of the work of Dubuisson. However it may be in fact that Delorme made this and probably around 1760. Now we are told by the BnF that Delorme was "Reçu maître en 1767" this seems to suggest that Delorme may have been an apprentice working for Dubuisson, or perhaps an experienced dorer working without papers. |
| The spectacular mosaic binding by Pierre Delorme shown above can be found in Eugène von Wasserman's 1913 catalogue Les livres composant le cabinet de M. Eugène v. W*** that can be seen online at archive.org (click here to see it). The fact that this binding is covering a 1769 first edition is proof that this decorative binding was not made by Pierre-Paul Dubuisson however the imprints of his unmistakable tools are evident here. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3, I have extracted imprints from the 115 Wassermann binding and compare them with examples of Dubuisson's imprint pd-8. It is very fortunate that we find these imprints from one of Dubuisson's favorite tools, this imprint has some particular asymmetric characteristics that make it easy to recognize and identify with a high degree of certainty. Thus we know that these are Dubuisson tools, but it was not Dubusion who employed them! Our investigations conclude that this binding was made by Pierre Delorme sometime near the publishing date of 1769. |
| In Comparative Diagram 5, we discover that these bindings share some amazing similarities, especially in the method of framing the boards, there can be little doubt that both of these bindings were executed by Jean Delorme, however the absence of the foil mosaics in the decoration of C48b8 may suggest a different date of their execution. |
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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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