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I came across this item on eBay mid March 2022. and as the seller included an excellent selection of photos I was quick to recognize some of the gold tooled imprints as possibly belonging to Delorme. The seller listed this item at a price that would discourage all bids except those from serious bidders if any. Thus I had to try to identify for certain the imprints that I thought might be from the tools of Delorme, this was an easy task even though exact size of the eBay imprints was not certain. We will look at those on the next page. However first I want to point out a conundrum that I ran into as soon as I started researching the imprints on the spine. Of particular interest was the central or centerpiece fleuron in the spine panels, this I thought might be found in Giles Barber's catalogued imprints, and fortunately I did find it on page 393, listed as FL 32 in Section 111. Pinks or dianthus. This I show below in Comparative Diagram 1. |
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In Comparative Diagram 1, we see Barber's FL 32 compared with an imprint from the 1768 Cantiques. The Cantiques imprint has been resized to be approximately the same as Barber's example, we can see immediately that these two imprints, are in all probability the same and derive from the same tool. Then we need to follow up Barber's references pertaining to FL 32. The first, W.Cats 205 is not very helpful in as much as he does not show the binding, however he mentions the fact that FL 32 is found with PAL 36 and that this binding was ascribed by Graham Pollard to Thomas Lemonnier or his widow on the evidence of the cloven pink (FL 32) and of the drawer-handle and wedge pallet (PAL 36) also used on a Breviarium Parisisense tooled with veuve Lemonnier's name, (Schiff Collection, pl. 29) At first the "Schiff Collection, no.29." threw me somewhat as this reference is in fact to the work of Seymour De Ricci, French signed bindings in the Mortimer L. Schiff Collection. Volume I [- III] § IV: British and miscellaneous signed bindings New York, [printed by Lecram-Servant, Paris], 1935 Fortunately I have found De Ricci's pl. 29 but first let us look at the next Barber reference W.Cat 279, this I show in Comparative Diagram 2. |
| In Comparative Diagram 2 we discover something amazing these two bindings show some spectacular similarities, these I have enumerated as (a) the triple fillet of two thin fillets with a thicker fillet between them. (b) what appear to be identical corner tools in the spine panels. (c) identical examples of FL 32. (d) identical filler imprints in the panel borders. (e) double fillets bordering the sides as well as the bottom panels. (f) PAL 36 pallets. (g) identical arrangements of PAL 36 pallets with the lower pallets centered in an identical fashion. (h) identical satellite dots, 4 in number. These similarities are remarkable and suggest that these two bindings were possibly/probably made contemporaneously. The date of publication for W.Cat 279 is given as 1773 so the 1768 publication date of the Cantiques (1768) may not truly reflect the actual date of its being bound. We can see also that the corner tool on the board of W.Cat 279 is almost certainly a Delorme imprint, del-6, this I show in Comparative Diagram 3. |
| In Comparative Diagram 3, I show the low resolution W.Cat 279 corner tool compared with a Delorme imprint del-6 that I have detailed previously. This then is more proof that the Cantiques binding as well as W.Cat 279 were actually decorated by Delorme. |
| In Comparative Diagram 4, we see W.Cat 279 compared with the De Ricci binding 29, and in Comparative Diagram 5 we see comparative enlargements of the lower spine panels of both. The triple filet is again evident. Barber mentions the triple fillet in his description of W.Cat 279 as (ROLL 120) however when we search for ROLL 120 we find it does not exist, in fact it is found in the Framing fillets as ROLL 119, Triple fillet with thicker central band. W.Cats 279, 544, 734, 774. The panel corner tools are different, however the filler imprints along the sides of the panels of the De Ricci example may actually be the top part of the del-6 imprints found in the the board corners W.Cat 279. |
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In Comparative Diagram 6 we compare the De Ricci no. 29 corner tool with Delorme imprint del-6-2 that I have detailed previously
. This then confirms that these bindings as well as that of the 1768 Cantiques were decorated by Delorme.
Now we come to the conundrum, Barber attributes bindings with his FL 32 and PAL 36 to the family of Monnier and particularly the veuve Le Monnier, who according to Barber first appeared in the annual guild list of binders in 1776, Barber thought she might have been the wife of Thomas LeMonnier who died in 1776 however according to the BnF Louis-François Lemonnier (the most famous Monnier) also died in 1776. De Ricci attributes his binding no.29 to the veuve Le Monnier due to the fact that her signature is found within the inner dentelle. In Comparative Diagram 7, I show this signature of the veuve Le Monnier. Now after extensive searches of the internet I can not find another example of this signature or really any information about the veuve Le Monnier. I suspect that if it were not for De Ricci's example no one would have ever heard of her. However the fact that she signed this binding (supposedly after 1776) raises the question of who actually decorated it. We can prove that the imprints found on this binding are those of Pierre Delorme, and if we are to believe that they were executed in 1776 on a 1767 Brevairium set, then we need to ask the question of whether Delorme was doing freelance work at this point in his career. This I see as very doubtful, although he may have been doing this kind of work in the early 60's, this is a conundrum for sure. |
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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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