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The binding shown above is found in a 1907 Paris publication entitled: La bibliothèque de l'amateur. Guide sommaire à travers les livres anciens les plus estimés et les principaux ouvrages modernes. by Edouard Rahir. Here is a book for bibliophiles who want to start their own library of rare and interesting books, These are divided into three lists: those to be collected for the value of the text: those that are important for their illustrations: and those that are collectable from the point of view of typography. An introduction, with reproductions of illustrations mostly from incunabula, precedes these lists. An alphabetical list of works cited follows the lists. A few pages on bindings, manuscripts, bibliographies, and other matters, over 6000 entries! Only a expert of high order could attempt write such a book. So when we find a few 'example' (four) bindings rerproduced near the back of the book, we are sure to imagine that these are highly representative, iconic landmarks that the author knows well. Unfortunately the reproduction quality of these examples, is very poor, and enlargement does not improve the situaltion, even so we can see that the Derome example of Rahir approaches very closely the binding we have looked at on the previous page (Planche XXXIX).
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