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French Decorative Bookbinding - Eighteenth Century

Signed by Plumet!


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Thanks to this Christie's auction description we have discover the identity of this binder who is linked by shared tools to Louis Douceur bindings, here in the information for Lot number 174 , the description clearly states that the binding was signed "Plumet" at the bottom of the inside of the back board. In our research pages we have been looking closely at imitation Douceur bindings, on page 12 we described how Giles Barber had fallen into this trap. On the previous page we have looked at another imitation binding. Now we have found the author of some of these bindings and his tools will have been catalogued by Barber albeit mixed with those of Louis Douceur. (Catalogue of Printed Books and Bookbindings: The James A. de Rothschild Bequest at Waddesdon Manor, by Giles Barber 2013)




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Comparative Diagram 1 - Douceur imprints d-17 vs Plumet imprint.





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Comparative Diagram 2 - Douceur imprints FL 156 vs Plumet imprint.





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Comparative Diagram 3 - Douceur imprints DCR 14 vs Plumet imprint DCR 13.
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When I first looked at this Plumet binding my hopes were that we had solved the problem of who was making imitation Douceurs, however as soon as I started to compare imprints things became a lot more complex. You will see on the first Plumet binding that we have described, Douceur tools being employed, however on this new Plumet we see some different tools, and a few of the old ones, none appear connected to the W.Cat.636 binder, the tools are different even the corner tool shown above in Comparative Diagram 3, DCR 13, is not the same as the Plumet model. We could perhaps explain this by imagining that Plumet continued the work of the Douceur workshop after Douceur retired, where as the W.Cat.636 binder was a true imitator.


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Comparative Diagram 4 - Louis Douceur bindings vs Plumet
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In Comparative Diagram 4 we see two authentic Louis Douceur bindings the first W.Cat.361 from Barbers book, the second BnF, RLR, RES-V-724 that can be found online in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. (click here to see it) and we compare these to the Plumet binding.


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Comparative Diagram 5 - Plumet imprint vs BnF d-4-5 wreath.



In Comparative Diagram 5 we try to compare the Plumet imprint d-4-5 with the BnF d-4-5 imprint. Unfortunately the BnF examples of this imprint are not good, due to the fact that it is a very large binding, even enlargement will not bring out the detail, however I have placed a green arrow to point out the outline of the imprint in this location, you will see that it follows closely the Plumet outline. If this was not the same tool I doubt that this outline could be anything so similar.


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Comparative Diagram 6 - Barber FL 147 imprints
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Comparative Diagram 6 shows that all three bindings have been decorated with this same tool that obviously derives from Louis Douceur's workshop. We see that Plumet has been using Douceur tools, however he has introduced some new ones, new ones that look like the old ones, just to make our investigations a little more interesting.



Postscript:
This page was created on March 21, 2018, now 2 years later March 2020 due to discovering more Plumet bindings, I am again researching the mysterious Plumet. (click here to see pages 12 and 13 of the previous research leads up to these pages)




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click here to see the INDEX of the 2017 pages.


click here to return to the HOME page.




see below links to previous work






Atelier I B 31/10/2014





Icons of the Renaissance 06/02/2014





Atelier au trefle 22/12/2014




Atelier Royal 1518 - 1524 09/11/2014





Unraveling G. D. Hobson's book on fanfares 27/11/2014





16c fanfare on eBay 23/11/2014




another Padeloup binding on eBay 07/12/2014


the last Padeloup fanfare?


Rare Padeloup binding on eBay 15/11/2014



Pierre-Paul Dubuisson's work attributed to Derone le jeune 23/10/2014 (unfinished work now finished)


Pierre-Paul Dubuisson's work attributed to Douceur 22/10/2014 (an under contruction page finished at last)


Louis-Marie Michon - the 1956 Disaster 19/10/2014 (an unfinished page finished at last)


Louis XII Dolphins motif 03/02/2014


Aristophanes Binder 1543 02/02/2014


Atelier des reliures LOUIS XII - Atlas Catalan 12/01/2014


Atelier des reliures LOUIS XII - FRANÇOIS Ier - Linacre bindings 05/01/2014


Atelier des reliures LOUIS XII - FRANÇOIS Ier c. 1500-1520


Atelier des reliures LOUIS XII - FRANÇOIS Ier - Chronology 16/01/2014


Atelier des reliures LOUIS XII - FRANÇOIS Ier - Inventory - binding No. 29 19/01/2014


Atelier des reliures LOUIS XII - FRANÇOIS Ier - Inventory - binding No. 39 19/01/2014


Atelier des reliures LOUIS XII - FRANÇOIS Ier - The mysterious disappearance of François Tissard d'Amboise 23/01/2014


Atelier des reliures LOUIS XII - FRANÇOIS Ier - The Simon Vostre fiasco 18/01/2014


L'Atelier Simon Vostre 1486-1521 01/01/2014


L'Atelier de Pierre Roffet 1511-1533 - TOOL CATALOGUE 26/01/2014


L'Atelier de Pierre Roffet 1511-1533 27/12/2013


Pierre Roffet - fleur-de-lis binder 28/12/2013


Fleur-de-lis Binder 1525-1540 27/11/2013


Du Saix Master 02/12/2013


Atelier Étienne Roffet 1538-1549 12/12/2013


Atelier Jean Picard 1538-1547


Imitative Binder c.1540 15/12/2013


Salel Binder 1540 17/11/2013


Atelier Ruette 1606-1669 INVENTORY


Atelier Macé Ruette 1606-1644


Atelier du Maitre Doreur 1622-1638


Atelier Antoine Ruette 1638-1669


Atelier des Caumartin 1652-1715


Atelier de Charenton 1670-1685


Atelier Luc-Antoine Boyet 1685-1733


Atelier Antoine-Michel Padeloup. dit Le Jeune 1685-1758


Atelier Louis Douceur 1721-1769


Atelier Pierre-Paul Dubuisson 1746-1762


Atelier Nicolas-Denis Derome, dit Derome le Jeune 1761-1788


Atelier Jean-Pierre Jubert, 1771-1793?


Atelier MM binder, 1770-179-?





A word of Caution

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 Bookings, created by L. A. Miller return to the Home page of VIRTUAL BOOKBINDINGS

l.a.miller@mail.pf