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COMPARATIVE IMPLEMENTOLOGY

French Decorative Bookbinding - Eighteenth Century

Pierre-Paul Dubuisson - 1752 Decorative Tools


click to enlarge


1752 spine panel enlarged to 300dpi,
(click on this image to see a 600dpi enlargement).



click to enlarge


Spine panel enlarged to 300dpi,
(click on this image to see a 600dpi enlargement).


On the previous page I presented two Dubuisson bindings, the first a 1752 Semaine Sainte, and an undated binding "à la plaque", above we see the lower spine panel of both bindings. In his 1972 catalogue, Volume 2, page 33, Ralphael Esmerian presents two bindings, item #96 and item #123. We find that #96 is from 1755 and #123 is Dubuison's own 1757 publication Armorial des Principales Maisons dr Familles du Royaume. Quite surprisingly, Esmerian attributes this binding to Derome. We can now show that both of these bindings are in fact, the work of Dubuisson.


click to enlarge


Esmerian's items 96 and 123,
(click on this image to see an enlargement).

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Enlarged spine panels of items 96 and 123,
(click on this image to see an enlargement).



comparative

Comparative Diagram 1 - Plaque spine panel imprints pd-53a and pd-53b vs item 96 spine panel
1752 spine panel imprints pd-52a and pd-52b vs item 123 spine panel
(click on this image to see an enlargement).

Even though Esmerin's reproductions cannot be enlarged without considerable image loss, we can still see that these imprints compare very well. Also you will note that the palette of item 96 is the probably the same same as that found on the 1752 spine. I have looked for more examples of this palette and what I found was more palettes that looked like this but were not exactly the same, so caution is advised. On a previous page (see Dubuisson - Signed Binding 1757) I have reproduced a Dubuisson binding "à la plaque" that contains Dubuisson's étiquette. Thus we can be fairly confident that the gold tooled imprints found on the spine derive from his workshop. Below I compare this spine with Esmerian's item 123. Both are copies of Dubuisson's own 1757 publication Armorial des Principales Maisons de Familles du Royaume. These bindings were in all probability, executed not long after the 1757 publication. I must say that this error by Esmerian along with a number of other instances where he has attributed Dubuisson's work to Derome, was quite a puzzle. However I have, at last, discovered the source of this error. Below I have reproduced the spine of the signed Dubuisson binding and item #123 which Esmerian has mistakenly attributed to Derome. On the next page we are going to discover how one "expert " has sent everyone in the wrong direction!


1757 Armorial

Comparative Diagram 2 - Dubuisson's 1757 Armorials, note palette and other identical imprints,
raised bands and filets, as well as title and tomb label all deployed in the same fashion.





click on this link to go to the next page: the Pierre-Paul Dubuisson - Jacques-Antoine Derome fiasco

click on this link to go back to the previous page: Dubuisson - cheap on eBay.

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l.a.miller@mail.pf

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