| Now you will probably say, that my introduction on the previous page was an over the top rant, and ask for proof of my stand on this. Well we need go no further than look at the BnF webpages for Pierre-Paul Dubuisson. Here we see that they show only two bindings for this famous binder, both have been made with the use of plates (plaques) so you are not treated to the vast array of Dubuisson tools, however there is one place where we will find a few and thats on the spines. BnF Gallica displays this well, and allows us to zoom in to see the binding and gold tooled imprints at high resolution. |
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Now if the BnF is showing us only two bindings by Dubuisson we can be reasonably sure that these imprints are the work of Dubuisson. In my screenshot of these tools we can clearly see imprints that I have classified previously and detailed on a number of pages,
and reproduced here for comparative purposes with examples that I possess myself. (see them here in high resolution) I have classified these particular imprints/tools as pd-21a and pd-21b (shown at the top of this page at high resolution.) In their biographical description of Dubuisson they mention that he worked with his father Rene and that they worked for other binders. It is well known that they worked for Padeloup. Now if we look at the BnF page for Padeloup we find an impressive array of 27 binding examples. The first two on the list are errors as the first is actually an admitted Douceur, and the second is not by Padeloup but they have attributed this binding to him. I have discovered that this second binding was infact decorated by Louis Douceur (see my page on this) Lets look at the last binding in the BnF collection of supposed bindings by Padeloup. This binding has recieved a lot of attention from the BnF experts and they have given a very detailed description of it, stating "Binding done in Paris around 1745-1750 by the workshop of Antoine-Michel Padeloup, binder of the King for the Marquise de Pompadour. Dating is proposed according to the date of publication of the volume and the attribution is based on the presence in the gilding material of irons (tools) characteristic of the production of the workshop of Antoine-Michel Padeloup. |
| Now lets first look at the spine of this volume, here we find the same imprints as found on the Dubuisson plaque binding, not only that but we see a fantastic array of many of Dubuisson's tools, there is not a single Padeloup tool here! How on earth can the BnF claim these are the tools of Padeloup??? I will tell you why, because they have fallen into the trap of counting an ancient expertise that claims these tools to be those Padeloup, the experts of the past and now even the BnF have not been able to distinguish between the tools of Dubuisson and those of Padeloup, and believe me there is a huge difference. Anyone who has studied Dubusson will recognize all the tools shown here to be those of Dubussion who used them continuously for more than a decade on hundreds upon hundreds of important bindings. Well there is no point harping about this terrible injustice of the BnF attribution, let us just be thankful that here we find a wonderful collection of high resolution examples of the tools of Dubuisson. |
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In Comparative Diagram 1, I have assembled the imprint examples which are not all at the same scale. Here you do not need scale to know that these imprints all derive from the same Dubuisson tools. In this diagram we can show that the binding accredited by the BnF to Padeloup has actually been made by Dubuisson. On the next page we are going to look closely at the imprints on this binding and demonstrate conclusively that they are all from Dubuisson tools and not the tools of Paleloup, furthern we are going to show how Derome le jeune used nearly exact copies of all of Dubuissons tools to produce bindings that imitated entirely the work of Dubuisson.
click here to see the next page... see below links to past 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. |
| Virtual Booking, created by L. A. Miller |