| When I started this page I had no idea of the size of the rabbit hole I was descending into. My first impulse was to show this pd-33-3 pair that I had not catalogued previously. This alone was quite unusual after all these years of researching the tools of Dubuisson and Delorme. The only similar example that I had catalogued many years previously was a pd-33-2 pair. My Type models for them were perhaps extracted from the allover design binding shown below with the arms of Pierre Guérin de Tencin archbishop of Lyon. The excellent reproduction of this binding derives from the 1921 catalogue of Eugene Wassermann. Produced with heliogravure by Malvaux the definition is so good that we can even make out some of the details of the spine. (shown below in Comparative Diagram 3) |
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Pierre-Paul Guérin de Tencin (Grenoble, 22 August 1679 - 2 March 1758), French ecclesiastic, was archbishop of Embrun and Lyon, and a Cardinal. On 22 February 1739, Guérin de Tencin was created Cardinal, of the titulus of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus. He remained at Rome as French ambassador until 1742, when he took possession of the archepiscopal see of Lyon, to which he had succeeded on 19 November 1740. Louis XV appointed him minister of state in September 1742, though he held no portfolio. In 1743 he was made Commander of the Order of Saint-Esprit. |
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I have previously looked at a number of allover design bindings by Dubuisson (see this )
Now after all this time I had forgotten that I had, on that page, established the fact that these allover bindings were probably made in the late 1750s. More recently I discovered another allover design binding with the arms Louis Joseph Xavier, Duke of Burgundy (shown below).
This binding can be seen in the online auction catalogue of
BINOCHE et GIQUELLO
this auction took place in December of 2018. The B and G experts, falsely claim this to be a reliure a la fanfare? They did not recognize the arms nor identify the decoration as being that of Dubuisson. and thus certainly do not qualify as "experts". None the less this item sold for 3760 Euros. Lets think about this, an ultra rare armorial binding by one of the greatest decorative binders of the 18th century, with an inscription by la Comtesse de Marsan, and the arms of one of the most tragic figures in the Royal family of Louis XV... what price might we put on such a treasure? Mere money alone would hardly seem adequate. In the description of this book it is noted that there is an inscription inside which should have been a very strong clue as to who the arms might have belonged to "Cette semaine Ste a été donnée à l'Abbé Dupac de Bellegarde, par Madame la Comtesse de Marsan Gouvernante des enfants de France ce mercredy St, à Versailles 22 mars 1758" In the wikipedia article on Louis Joseph Xavier, Duke of Burgundy we discover that "he was cared for by Madame de Marsan, the Governess of the Children of France" The date of this inscription is also very interesting, suggesting that this binding was perhaps made in 1758 even though the publication date is 1743. Notice that the fleurons used to decorate the corners of the spine panels of this binding are the same as those found on the Wassermann 958. |
| On the next page we will discover that there are some very interesting pd-33 pairs within the decoration of this Dubuisson allover binding. |
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click here to return to the HOME page. click here to see the 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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