| On the previous page we looked at imprints from the comte d'Artois Fables binding by Jean-Baptiste Gosselin and presented a enlarged detail from that binding in Comparative Diagram 1 and then in Comparative Diagram 2 compared the imprints with Barber's DST 37 tool model, Here we are going to use that same enlarged detail to look at another Barber example. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1, we see the Fables detail compared with Barber's DCT 31 tool model. Even though the Fables example has been distorted by perspective we can still imagine that this is very likely the same imprint, Barbers example is shown here reduced to 70 percent (at 300dpi) below it we see an example from the MISSALE MONASTICUM binding shown at the top of the page. This reproduction is found online in a 2001 Christies auction (click here to see it), the reproduction is not a high resolution image as is found in auction sites these days and so I am forced to it show it at a reduced size, still we can easily imagine that this is the same DCT 31 imprint. Note that Barber has found this imprint on his W.Cat 629 binding, this corresponds to Roll 80 and Pal 82 also found on this W.Cat 629 binding. |
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In Comparative Diagram 2, I have reproduced Lot 63 from Christies online 2004 catalogue, THE MICHEL WITTOCK COLLECTION, PART I
(click here to see it).
This 2004 reproduction is at a minimum of usefulness for our purposes however this is such an important binding I was forced to show it. At some future point I will have a better image to replace this one. Anyway we can see enough to identify Gosselin's tools particularly the spine palettes (see Comparative Diagram 3) this palette we have identified on the previous page as Barber's PAL 84 as well as DCT 31 in the corners. There are a number of important things to note about these bindings, particularly their historical connection to Lord Arundell who had them made in Paris as a special adornment to inaugurate the new Chapel at Wardour Castle on the first of November 1776. Thus we know that these bindings were made in 1776 and at the same time we have solved the mystery of who made them. |
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In Comparative Diagram 4, I show another Gosselin binding, this one can be dated to 1783. Here we can see Batber's DCT 31 as well as DCT 23 and a plethora of other Gosselin imprints in the bargain. The auction information tells us that this book contains some 1500 illustrations of heraldic shields listed in a chronological order, right up to 1783. and consequently we might imagine that the MISSALE MONASTICUM (at the top of this page) with the same border roulette and other matching tools, was possibly made around the same period 1776 to 1783. I wanted to try to find out if these armorial publications by Beaumont contained by chance the armes that I have yet to identify on the Missale Romanum that we documented recently. (click here to see this). Sometimes things happen unexpectedly that send chills through your spine, coincidences that have to be more than just a coincidence. This is what happened when I stumbled upon a copy of Beaumont's armories in Gallica, the digital section of the BnF, (click here to see this). Here I discovered an amazing binding by Gosselin, and that would not be overly surprising, except for the fact that this binding is unlike all other Gosselin bindings that I had encountered previously, and is in fact in some ways quite identical to the Missale Romanum binding. Here we find the same kind of ultra rare Scrolling Leaf Border, constructed with a single tool, we need to start a new page to look at this! |
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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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