| In the past few pages we have been looking at the possibility of a binder who worked in the Dubuisson workshops after the death of Pierre-Paul Dubuisson in 1762. In our research into the mosaic bindings of Dubuisson we have one more binding that was first mentioned by Marius Michel in his 1880 book La Reliure française, he sighted 3 bindings which he thought were made by the mysterious unidentified doreur who decorated the bindings of Jacques-Antoine Derome. The binding that is shown above is Michel's third example (PL. XX) that can also be found online with Gallica. We can see how this binding has much in common with the other mosaics however the absolate lack of any imprint that could be called distinctive makes identification difficult. Fortunately this binding has an elaborate doublure with a dentelle that has been decorated with tools that can be identified. We have looked at this doublure on another page (see this page) and shown that some of the imprints of the dentelle derive from the tools of Dubuisson. |
| In Comparative Diagram 1 - I show identical imprints from the above binding's doubleur dentelle compared with the Etat binding we examined on a previous page (see this page.) All this is pointing to the obvious conclusion that doreur of B-4873 (BIS) was not Derome le jeune as asserted by the Bibliotheque Nationale, but another binder who is probably Pierre Delorme. We have shown that the Etat binder was using some of Dubuisson's tools and we also demonstrated that a certain Delorme was also using tools from the Dubuisson collection in 1776 (see this page.) We are now going to examine some evidence to support this theory, evidence that almost everyone seems to have forgotten or ignored, it derives from the little known second volume of Gruels publication entitled Manuel historique et bibliographique de l'amateur de reliures by Léon Gruel, 1887. The second part of this work was published 8 years after the first in 1895. Fortunately in this second volume he added Pierre Delorme to the index. |
| In this text Gruel states that Delorme officially became a binder in 1763 and in a engraved publicity poster announced himself as the successor to Dubuisson working in the same street if not the same workshop as Dubuisson that is to say he was carrying on Dubuisson's work, none of this information has yet arrived at the Bibliotheque Nationale! Gruel also states that he has seen a binding by Delorme and reproduces a part of it to show that Delorme had signed it. He goes on to remark on the fine quality and workmanship of Delorms work. Also stating that Delorme's name appears in the Almanach Dauphin of 1777 where he is praised as one of the most renouned doreur-relieurs in the land. Alas too soon his fame was forgotten! The 1776 binding that the BnF has attributed to Jean Delorme is obviously the work of Pierre Delorme as everything points to this conclusion. We only need to find a few more signed bindings by Delorme to pronounce unequivocally that Pierre Delorme is the Etat binder! |
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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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