CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FINE ARTS LIBRARY ®m BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Hcnrg W. Sage 1891 A z.6..a..a& 'iMll. Cornell University Library Z 270.F8F61 Bookbinding in France. 3 1924 020 571 539 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020571539 THE MONOGRAPHS ON ARTISTIC SUBJECTS EDITED BY P. G. HAMERTON PUBLISHED MONTHLY No. 10 October, 1894 Bookbinding in France by WIL L I AM T. FL ETCHER London: SEELEY AND CO., LIMITED* ESSEX STREET, STRAND Sold by . - "P ARTS':' LiBRAIRlE GaLIGNANI, 22J [ R.UE DE RlVOLI. BERLIN : A. ASHER & Co., I 3 UpJTER DEN LlNDEN New York : Macmillan & Co. Price Half-a-crown THE PORTFOL 2 REEVES' 2 % ARTISTS' • COLOURS. J * * FOR YOUR BEST WORK USE BEST MATERIAL. "/ can speak of them in nothing but the highest terms; they are pure and rich in tint^very free and pleasant in working, and bear the severest test as to permanency." The President of the R.B.A. CATALOGUE POST FREE REEVES TSONS, Ltd. 113, Cheapside, London, E.G. 19, LOWER PHILLIMORE PLACE. 8, EXHIBITION ROAD. Thomas Moring ENGRAVER. BOOK-PLATES BRASS DOOR-PLATES MEDALS* ARMORIAL PAINTING ILLUMINATING DIE SINKING VISITING CARDS STATIONERY 52HIGHHOLBORN LONDON, W.C. Established 1791. A Catalogue dealing with Seal Engraving, Seals, Rings, Stones, &c, and containing Notes on the History of Seals, printed on hand-made paper and illustrated by Autotype Reproductions. Post free, 1 3 stamps. Illustrations of MEMORIAL BRASSES post free on application. LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY, ESTABLISHED 1806. Urastees. Joseph Gueney Barclay, Esq. I Cuthbert Edgar Peek, Esq. Wilfrid Arthur Beyan, Esq, Sir Charles Rugge Price, Bart. TheRt. Hon.LordMonkBretton. I TheHon.CharlesHedleyStrutt. Samuel, Harvey Twining, Esq. Wealth— Security— Stability. PAID IN CLAIMS UPWARDS OF £10, 900,000. Profits Divided among Policy Holder's -upwards of £3,900,000. The Budget, 1894— Estate Duties. The BEST WAY to PROVIDE for PAYMENT of DEATH DUTIES. PARTICUI.A US ON APPL ICA T10N. Low Premium Rales for without Profit Policies. LEASEHOLD S INKING FUN D POLICIES. CHIEF OFFICE: (5 NEW BRIDGE STREET, LONDON, E.C. QE ORGE S. CRISFORD, Actuary. APPLY FOR PROSPECTUS. The AUTOTYPE FINE-ART GALLERY, 74, NEW OXFORD STREET, LONDON, Is remarkable for its Display of Copies of Celebrated Works of THE GREAT MASTERS. Reproductions of the most important Paintings in the following Collections : — NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, BUCKINGHAM PALACE, WINDSOR CASTLE, UFFIZI, FLORENCE, PITTI, FLORENCE, ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS, FLORENCE, AMSTERDAM, THE HAGUE, LOUVRE, PARIS, LUXEMBOURG, PARIS, ROYAL GALLERY, DRESDEN, HERMITAGE, ST. PETERSBURG, PRADO, MADRID, VATICAN/ ROME, HAARLEM, FRANKFORT, AND THE PARIS SALONS. A LARGE COLLECTION of EXAMPLES OF MODERN FRENCH and ENGLISH ART in SELECTED FRAMES, suitable for HALL, LIBRARY, DRAWING-ROOM, BOUDOIR, &c. THE AUTOTYPE FINE-ART CATALOGUE OF 184 pages, with Illustrated Supplement, containing 68 Miniature Photo- graphs of notable Autotypes, post free, One Shilling. Autotype: a Decorative and Educational Art. New Pamphlet — Free on Application. THE AUTOTYPE COMPANY, LONDON. Dinneford's Magnesia .^FOR REGULAR I USE IN -I WARM CLIMATEb DINNEFORD'S FLUID MAGNESIA The Safe st Mild \ Aperient for IDelicateCon- stitutions, Ladles, Children, & Infants, The Best Remedy for Acidity of the Stomach, Heartburn, Headache, Gout, and Indigestion. SOLD THROUGHOUT THE WORLD Caution— See that " DINNEFORD & CO," is on every Bottle and Label. PLATE I. IL PRENCIPE DI NICOLO MACHIAVELLI. BROWN MOROCCO. VINEGIA, 1540. 10. GROLIERII ET AMICORUM on upper cover. PORTIO MEA DOMINE SIT IN TERRA VIVENTIUM on lower cover. Actual size. BOOKBINDING IN FRANCE ' By W. Y. FLETCHER, F.S.A. Assistant-Keeper, Department of Printed Books, British Museum. LONDON SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED, ESSEX STREET, STRAND NEW YORK, MACMILLAN AND CO. 1894 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS COLOURED PLATES I. II Prencipe di Nicolo Machiavelli. Vinegia, 1540 . . . . Frontispiece II. Dionysii Areopagit:e Opera, Graoce. Parisiis, 1562 to face 18 III. Valerii Maximi Dictorum Factorumque Memorabilium Libri IX. Antverpiaa, 1574 „ „ 34 IV. Voyages et Conquestes du Capitaine Ferdinand Courtois. Paris, 1588 „ ,, 40 V. Novum Testamentum Grasce. Amsterdami, 1633 „ „ 44 VI. Office de la Semaine Sainte. Paris, 1 71 2 ,, „ 65 VII. Les Grans Croniques de France. Paris, 1493 „ „ 6j VIII. La Sainte Bible. Cologne, 1739 „ „ 68 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 1. Opere del Petrarcha. Vinegia, 1525 ir 2. C. Suetonii Tranquilli XII Cassares. Venetiis, 1521 13 3. M. Moschopuli de ratione examinanda; orationis libellus, Greece. Lutetiae, 1545 r 5 4. Coustumes du Bailliage de Sens, &c. Sens, 1556 17 5. Histoire des Faicts des Roys, &c, de France, Par Paul iEmyle. Paris, 1581 . 22 6. Livre des Statuts de l'Ordre du Sainct Esprit. Paris, 1578 24 7. Devotes Contemplations sur la Vie de Jesus Christ. Par Louys de Grenade. Paris, 1583 26 8. Floriacensis vetus Bibliotheca Benedictina, &c, Opera Joannis a Bosco. Lugduni, 1605 28 4 ILLUSTRyJTIONS IN THE TEXT PAGE 9. J. A. Thuani Historia Sui Temporis. Parisiis, 1604 30 10. Pauli ^Lmylii Veronensis de rebus gestis Francorum Hbri X. Lutetian, 1577 . 32 11. C. Jul. Csesaris Commcntarii. Paris, 1564 33 12. CEuvres Spirituelles du P. Estienne Binet. Rouen, 1620 35 13. Arms of Jacques Auguste de Thou 36 14. Arms of De Thou and his first wife, Marie Barbancon 37 15. Arms of De Thou and his second wife, Gasparde de la Chastrc .... 38 16. C. Plinii Cascilii Secundi Epistolarum Libri X. Lugd. Batav., 1640 ... 39 17. Commentatio Explicationum Omnium Tragoediarum Sophoclis, &c. Basiles, 1S56 48 18. Les Entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugene. Paris, 1671 49 19. 'What faith is the true one,' &c, MS 51 20. Arms of Cardinal Mazarin 52 21. Caii Suetonii Tranquilli Opera. Parisiis, 1644 55 22. Claudiani Opera. Lugd. Batav. 1650 , 57 23. Arms of Madame de Maintenon 59 24. T. Lucretii Cari de Rerum Natura Libri VI. Lutetian, 1570 61 25. Arms of Countess de Verrue 63 26. Arms of Louis XV 69 27. Arms of Mesdames de France 70 28. Ameto del Boccaccio. Firenze, 1529 72 29. Omaggio Poetico di Antonio di Gennaro, Duca di Belforte, &c. Parigi, 1768 75 30. Le mistere de la resurrection de iesucrist. Par iehan michel. Paris . . 77 31. La grand danse macabre. Lyon, 1555 79 FRENCH BOOKBINDING CHAPTER I Early bindings — Blind stamped ornamental work — First gilt bindings — Guild of St. Jean — Grolier — Geoffroy Tory — -Francis I. — Henry II. — Diana of Poitiers — Catharine de' Medici, etc. In early times the French bindings, like those of other countries, were the work of the goldsmith and the carver rather than that of the bookbinder as understood by us. Rare and beautiful volumes, the joint production of the scribe and the artist, were incased in befitting covers of the precious metals, enamel, or ivory, which were often enriched with gems or crystals. They formed part of the treasures of a king, a church, or a monastery. Later on, when princes and nobles began to take an interest in literature and the fine arts as well as in the profession of arms, manuscripts became more common, and these costly bindings were to a very great extent superseded by those of cloth of gold, velvet, and satin ; leather being employed for books of lesser value. With the invention of printing another change took place : books were produced in such large numbers that it became necessary to find less expensive materials for their covers, and leather of various kinds, more or less decorated with blind stamped ornamental work, came into general use. Many of these impressed leather bindings are of great beauty ; those of Jehan Norins, Louis Bloc, Andre Boule, and R. Mace being espe- cially good. Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Anne of Brittany, successively the wife of both these kings, were the great collectors of books, printed as 6 FRENCH BOOKBINDING well as manuscript, of this time. Hardly any of these precious volumes retain their original bindings, but one bearing the arms of France and Brittany, together with the hedgehog, the badge of Louis, is exhibited in the French National Library. The glories of French binding, however, really date from the in- troduction of the art of tooling in gold into Europe. Although this craft was first practised in Italy, it was quickly imitated by the French binders, who soon excelled all others in the beauty and quality of their work ; and from the beginning of the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century the binder's art in France, fostered by the kings and queens and the great collectors of that country, reached and main- tained a degree of excellence which has never been surpassed. The superiority of French binding may be also attributed to some extent to the influence of the Guild of St. Jean, a community which appears to have been established in Paris as early as the year 1401, and did not cease to exist until the time of the Revolution, when it was suppressed by a decree of the Assembly. It embraced and controlled all persons who took part in the production and sale of books, and included binders as well as scribes, illuminators, printers, and booksellers. It is difficult to determine whether the French binders learnt the art of tooling in gold from Italian craftsmen who took up their abode in France while Grolier was in Italy, or from the workmen whom he is said to have brought with him on his return to his native land ; but there is no doubt that the development of the art in France was mainly due to the inspiration and patronage of this famous collector. Jean Grolier, Vicomte d'Aguisy, was born at Lyons in 1479. In 15 10, at the age of thirty-one, he succeeded his father, Etienne, in the office of Treasurer of the Duchy of Milan, and he resided in Italy, with some interruptions, until 1529, when the French troops were withdrawn from that country. During his stay there he made the acquaintance of Aldus Manutius, the " scholar printer " of Venice, and assisted both him and his successors with money in the production of the beautiful volumes which issued from their press. In recognition of his kindness special copies of these books, several of which were dedicated to him, were printed for his library, and were also probably bound in their workshops. In 1524 Grolier was sent by Francis I. on an embassy to Pope FRENCH BOOKBINDING 7 Clement VII., and in 1545 he obtained the reversion of the post of Treasurer-General of France, to which he succeeded some two years later, and held until his death, which occurred on the 22nd of October 1565, in the midst of his books, at the Hotel de Lyon, near the Buci Gate in Paris. Grolier's library, which was one of the finest of the time, consisted of 3,000 volumes, about 350 of which are known now to exist. Sixty- four are in the Bibliotheque Nationale, about thirty in the British Museum, principally in the library bequeathed by the Rev. C. M. Cracherode, fifteen in the Bibliotheque St. Genevieve, left to the library by Archbishop Le Tellier, and seven in the Bibliotheque de 1' Arsenal. Many are also to be found in the private libraries of this and other countries. His books, as far as the bindings are concerned, may be divided into two classes — those bound for him, and those which were already in that condition when he acquired them. On all those in the first class his liberal and well-known motto, Io. Grolierii et Amicorum, will, with very rare exceptions, be found, and he also placed it on those in the second when he could do so without damaging or disfiguring the binding. He also wrote it with numerous slight variations — as many as thirteen are known — in the interior of his volumes. This inscription is almost always stamped on the upper cover, while a part of the fifth verse of the one hundred and forty-second Psalm, Portio mea Domine sit in terra viventium, generally occurs on the lower. He did not, however, confine himself to this motto. Tanquam ventus est vita mea, from the seventh verse of the seventh chapter of Job, and Custodit Dominus omnes diligentes se, et omnes impios disperdet, a portion of verse twenty of the one hundred and forty-fifth Psalm, were occasionally used. The arms adopted by him when a bachelor were three bezants or surmounted by three stars argent on a field azure. After his marriage in 15 16 he impaled those of his wife Anne Bri^onnet. On a few of his volumes is found an emblem of a hand, entwined with a scroll bearing the words ^Eque diffi- culter, issuing from a cloud and striving to pull an iron bar from the ground on the top of the highest of a number of mountains, probably the Alps. This only occurs on his earlier books, and is believed to refer to some special event of his life 8 FRENCH BOOKBINDING Grolier's books are mostly bound in morocco, fine skins of which he took great pains to procure from the Levant, but they are occasionally covered with calf. Those which he acquired in his earlier years, during his residence in Italy, were bound in that country, probably, as has been already stated, in the workshops of Aldus and his family, and they possess all the characteristics of Italian work of the time. Some of the volumes which he added to his collection after his return to France bear marks of having been bound there ; the arabesque tooling being barred or azured l instead of solid like that on the Italian bindings. (See the beautiful example figured in Plate I.) It would seem, however, that many of the later Aldine books belonging to Grolier, printed after he left Italy, were still bound at Venice, as their covers are ornamented with precisely the same stamps as those used on the earlier ones ; bound copies being probably sent to him direct from the printers. But of course it is also quite possible that these stamps may have been brought by him from Italy to France and used there. Although almost all the bindings executed for Grolier have a strong family resemblance, there is very considerable variety in the styles of their decoration. That most generally used consists of a geometrical pattern combined with arabesques, either solid, azured, or in outline only, in gold tooling ; the ornamentation being occasionally coloured. Sometimes we find the geometrical design without the arabesque work, or the arabesque work without the geometrical design. The effect is always excellent, and the bindings well merit the encomium bestowed upon them by Noel Bonaventure d'Argonne, who wrote under the pseudonym of Vigneul de Marville, in his Melanges A ■Av-Ali I - JN% . . . j I «l» «s» ^ A ■ A AAA A -A' :A' : A^At'-A^A';^* ,-A yT *|? fj|» 4» A A; A A "A^'.A.'- A.'; A ' A ^'Al A A A A A A A "'-A: A' A A A" i! AAA- A *A- A "A,' : 'A ■■A,, A • . -A- AAl A-' : A A 'v'A '■A' Xu A :jA > A vA "'A; A. A.- .-J I A A. A.^rA, A.' A .A ^A v ,' A ;A-;A- A AS j -A A^A^A- '^^AiA "$p,/$^. A.,; .A A' | A' A ■A A ■ A=" A- - A '''A.-- A ■A'" A A S^k,A; A\ ; ,A- r .A; A .A A .A A • A A,*,^J!J Fig. 5. — Histoire des Faicts des Roys, l3c. de France, Par Paul ^E?nyle. Paris, 1 581. Brown morocco ; with arms of Henry HI. 15I in. by 10 in. of forty-two copies of the statutes of the Order of the St. Esprit, which had been recently instituted by Henry III., and mention of this commission is found in the Clairambault Manuscripts (Vol. 1231 FRENCH BOOKBINDING 23 fols. 91 and 108), where we read: ''A Nicolas Eve, laveur et relieur des livres et libraire du roy, 47 escus et demi, pour avoir lave, dore et regie sur tranche 42 livres des statuts et ordonnances de l'ordre, reliez et couverts de maroquin orenge du Levant, enrichis d'un coste, des armoiries de S. M. pleines dorees, de l'autre de France et de Pologne, et aux quatre coins des chiffres, et le reste de flammes avec leurs fermoirs de ruban orenge et bleu, suivant l'ordonnance de M. le Chancelier du 26 et quittance du 27 decembre, 1579, cy xlvii escus et demy." The sum charged for binding these volumes enables us to form some estimate of the remuneration then paid to binders for their work, as the ecu of France in 1579 was equivalent to seven shillings English money of the same period, and probably worth fifty or sixty shillings of the present time. The binding is a particularly handsome one, and, with the exception of the loss of the " fermoirs de ruban orenge et bleu," is in as good condition as when it left the binder's hands. Time has changed the " maroquin orenge du Levant " into a rich warm brown, a very great improvement on the original colour. In the centre of the upper cover are impressed the arms of Henry III. (France and Poland), surrounded by the collar of the Order of the St. Esprit, and surmounted by a crown bearing the motto Manet ultima ccelo ; above and below and on either side of the arms occurs a representation of the dove, the emblem of the Holy Ghost. The lower cover bears the arms of France. The sides of both covers are studded with fleurs-de-lis and " tongues of fire " arranged alternately, a crowned monogram of the king and his queen, Louise of Lorraine, being placed at each corner. The back is thickly decorated with fleurs-de-lis, and the edges of the leaves are gilt. The book is very handsomely printed on fine vellum, each page being ruled with red lines. Another copy, bound precisely in the same manner, is preserved in the French National Library. There is little doubt that this edition of the statutes of the Order was printed by Eve, or under his immediate supervision, for a portion of the type used is exactly the same as that employed in the Traite des Me s adventures de Personnages Signalez. Traduict du Latin de Jean Boccace par CI. Witart, Escuyer, Sieur de Rosoy, etc. This little book was published by Nicolas Eve at Paris in 1578, and on the title-page 2+ FRENCH BOOKBINDING he styles himself " Relieur du Roy, demeurant au cloz Bruneau, rue Chartiere, a l'enseigne d'Adam et Eve." In the Privilege du Roy Fig. 6. — Livre des Statuts de I'Orcre du Sainct Esprit. Paris, 1578. Orange morocco. Bound by Nicolas Eve. ()\ in. by 6J in. allowing him to print the book or to have it printed, he is described as " Marchand Libraire en l'Universite de Paris, & Relieur ordinaire du FRENCH BOOKBINDING 25 Roy." The date of the death of Nicolas Eve is not known, but it was probably earlier than 1592, for in that year we find George Drobet describing himself as " Relieur du Roy" in several books issued by him at Tours. Drobet appears to have been succeeded by Clovis Eve, unless they held the post conjointly, as in a devotional work, entitled Le Thresor du Prieres, Oraisons et Instructions Chrestiennes pour invoquer Dieu en tout temps, published by Clovis Eve at Paris in 1596, he calls himself " Relieur ordinaire du Roy." He also was binder to Gaston d'Orleans, and in the household accounts of that prince there is an entry of a payment to him of thirty-three livres, dated the 17th of June 1628, for binding a Missal and a Book of Hours in " maroquin de Levant," with a semis of fleurs-de-lis. Clovis Eve died about the end of the year 1634 or the beginning of 1635. A large number of bindings were executed about this period at Lyons, but with some exceptions they were very inferior to those done in Paris. Many of the decorations used were produced by single stamps. As these were well cut, and the patterns were frequently imitations of the work of the best gilders of the time, the result was often satisfactory, but of course the adornment of these commercial bindings cannot be compared with the beautiful tooling, worked out bit by bit by means of small engraved stamps, which we find on the books bound by such artists as the Eves and Le Gascon. Henry III. was a great lover of fine bindings, and it is said that he possessed some skill as a binder himself. Many of his books are known by the lugubrious and religious emblems adopted by him for their decoration — emblems in strange contrast with the dissoluteness of his life and manners. A death's-head, the badge of the Order of Penitents, to which the king belonged, frequently occurs both on the sides and on the backs of the volumes, accompanied sometimes with the motto Memento mori, but more commonly by Spes mea Deus ; while in the centre of the covers a representation of the Annuncia- tion or the Crucifixion is frequently impressed (see Fig. 7). Other bindings bear the implements of the Passion, and some have a semis of tears. These devices are believed to have been used by Henry, then Duke of Anjou, to show the deep grief which he felt at the sudden 26 FRENCH BOOKBINDING death of Mary of Cleves, Princess of Conde, to whom he was greatly attached. On the covers of one of his books we find a monogram formed of the initials of the princess enclosed with two wreaths, and on the back a death's-head between two tears, with the touching inscription Mort m'est vie. When he became king his bindings assumed a somewhat more Fig. 7. — Devotes Contemplations sur la Vie de Jesus Christ. Par Louys de Grenade. Paris, 1583. Olive morocco. Bound for Henry III. 4^ in. by 3J in. cheerful aspect. They almost always bear the arms of France and* Poland (he was king of the latter country before he ascended the French throne) surmounted by a crown, which generally bears the motto Manet ultima ccelo. His initial occurs below the arms, which, before he instituted the Order of the St. Esprit, are surrounded by the collar of the Order of St. Michel only, subsequently by the collars of both Orders. FRENCH BOOKBINDING 27 After his marriage with Louise of Lorraine, who herself possessed a number of splendidly bound books, he frequently used a cypher composed of the letters H. XX. (Henri Louise Lorraine). Her Majesty the Queen possesses a very beautiful volume from the library of this sovereign. It is bound in brown morocco, and the covers, which are very elaborately tooled, bear the arms of the king, surrounded by the collars of the Orders of St. Michel and the St. Esprit, together with his crowned initial. The book is a folio copy of De la Conoissance et Merveilles du Monde et de V Homme, by Pierre de Dampmartin, printed at Paris in 1585. It is dedicated to Henry, and was probably bound by Nicolas Eve. The books of Henry IV. are generally plainly bound in morocco, with the arms of France and Navarre, surrounded by the collars of St. Michel and the St. Esprit in the centre of the covers ; accompanied with the initial of the king, with a crown above and the number IIII. beneath it. Some vellum bindings which belonged to this monarch, and were probably bound by Nicolas or Clovis Eve, are masterpieces of rich and delicate tooling. A representation of one of these charming works of art is given in Fig. 8. A very fine large-paper copy of the first eighteen books of De Thou's Historia Sui "Temporis, once the property of James I., King of England, is exhibited in the British Museum. The binding, which was probably executed by Clovis Eve, is of red morocco, the arms of Henry being impressed in the centre of each cover. The sides are also ornamented with crowned fleurs-de-lis and the initial of the king ; the back being decorated alternately with the royal cypher and the fleur-de-lis, each surmounted by a crown (Fig. 9). This is be- lieved to be the copy of his History which the author presented to James I. In the letter which accompanied the book, De Thou, in begging the king to accept his work, states that it will be conveyed to him by the French ambassador, and that he has not ventured to offer it to his majesty without the express command and permission of his own king. These circumstances may account for the binding bearing the arms and cypher of the French monarch. Henry possibly had the book specially bound for James, or he may have allowed De Thou to take a copy from the royal library, of which he was the keeper. The pig, 8. — Floriacensis vetus Bibliotheca Benedictina, l£c, Opera Joannis a Bosco. Lugduni, 1605. Vellum ; with arms of Henry IV. 7 in. by 4§ in. FRENCH BOOKBINDING 29 French ambassador, who was a son of the President de Harlay by a sister of De Thou, sent the following letter to his uncle, giving an account of the presentation of his book : — " Sir, — I have presented your letter, with your book, to the king, who received it with such remarks of esteem for the author, and has since spoken so highly of it in public, that you have every reason to be satisfied with his approbation, and to console and fortify yourself by his testimony against the attacks of envy and calumny by which I under- stand you have been assaulted from various quarters. The king promised me that he would answer your letter, with the style of which he was extremely pleased. He has perused your dedication of your history to his Majesty King Henry, and said that it was one of the finest pieces of writing he had ever read, not excepting the works of antiquity, and sincerely, for my own part, the more I read it the more I find my admiration of its beauties increased. You have undertaken a great work, as worthy of your free and courageous spirit as the slavery of the age in which we live is unworthy of it. I think you will do well for the present to defer printing your materials down to the year 90 [1590], for I should fear you would not be able to resist the opposition of those who are chagrined to see their fathers marked with disgrace. King James is about to send a gentleman to the Court of France, upon the death of Madame de Bar. I will endeavour that he shall carry his majesty's thanks and a letter to you. I now humbly kiss your hands, and shall pray God, sir, to grant you, with health, a long and happy life. " Your obedient nephew and servant, " De Harlay. "London, March 10, 1604." The following is an extract from the letter written by King James to De Thou : — " With respect to your book, we have not as yet had leisure to read more than half of it, and that cursorily ; but we have, nevertheless, plainly discovered the ability of the author, and have received much delight from the perusal, as well on account of the style as the matter. We are particularly gratified in observing that, conformably to the advice you give others, partiality, the too common bane of history, is Fig- 9- — 7- ^- Tkiumi Historic Sui Temporis. Parisiis, 1604. Red morocco-, with arms and initial of Henry IV. 17 in. by io5 in. FRENCH BOOKBINDING 31 banished from your work. What we have seen increases our desire to have the sequel of so admirable a composition, and we entreat and re- quire you to gratify in this respect the eager curiosity of your friends. Be assured, M. le President, no one will be more desirous to acknowledge and honour your merit and virtue than " Your affectionate friend, "James R. " Dated Westminster, "March 4, 1603 [1604.]." The sequel of the work, however, did not obtain the approbation of James. He was especially dissatisfied with the account of certain events in his mother's life, and engaged Sir Robert Cotton to prepare a memoir in her defence. De Thou was deeply sensible of the difficulties attend- ing this portion of his history, and in 1608 addressed a letter to the eminent historian and antiquary William Camden, in which he writes : " The historian's province, if he be resolved to do his duty, is indeed a painful one, for the law of history obliges him not only to say nothing false, but to be bold in delivering the whole truth." Marguerite of Valois, daughter of Henry II. and Catharine de' Medici, and first wife of Henry IV., inherited from her father and mother an ardent love of books. Her library contained a very con- siderable number of choice volumes, principally bound in morocco. The covers have a semis of marguerites, or are ornamented with branches of laurel, palm, or olive, and floriated spirals in the style attributed to Nicolas and Clovis Eve, with the addition of marguerites, and sometimes the motto Spes mea. The British Museum possesses a fine example of a binding, decorated in this style, which belonged to Marguerite. It is a copy of De Rebus gestis Francorum by Paulus .ZEmylius, printed at Paris in 1577. Brown calf is the material used for the binding, the sides and back being ornamented with branches of palm and olive. Marguerites are also introduced in the decoration. It was probably bound by Clovis Eve (Fig. 10). The exquisite little volumes tooled with a border of palm and laurel branches enclosing a number of small floral oval compartments, each containing a marguerite or other flower, and having in the centre of the upper cover a shield charged with three fleurs-de-lis on a bend, a similar 32 FRENCH BOOKBINDING shield with three lilies accompanied with the motto Expectata non eludet occurring on the lower cover, have been generally associated with the name of this queen. M. Guigard, however, points out in his Fig, 10. — Pauli JEmylii Verone?isis de rebus gat is Francorum libri X. Lutetia, 1 577. Brown calf. Bound for Marguerite de Valois. 13 in. by 9 in. Armorial du Bibliophile that they were more probably bound for Marie Marguerite de Valois de Saint-Remy, daughter of a natural son of Henry III. Tradition asserts these bindings to have been executed in the workshop of Clovis Eve, and it is most likely right (see Fig. 11). o - ^5 o &> o Cj o . O ^ a > o 8 m 34 FRENCH BOOKBINDING Mary de' Medici, the second wife of Henry IV., resembled her predecessor in her love for letters and the fine arts, and many of the books which belonged to her have bindings of remarkable richness. Some are tooled in the Eve style, while others are decorated with a semis of fleurs-de-lis ; or of her cypher alone, or associated with the fleur-de-lis. They almost always bear her arms — the arms of France and Tuscany — surrounded with the cordetiere, the sign of her widowhood, and accompanied by a monogram formed of either the letters M. M. (Marie Medicis) or M. M. H. (Marie, Medicis, Henri). Fig. 12 represents a fine binding in brown morocco executed for this queen. The book which it adorns is a copy of Recueil des CEuvres Spirituelles du P. Estienne Btnet. Dediees a Jesus Christ, et a sa tressainte Mere, et a la Royne Mere du Roy, printed at Rouen in 1620. It was purchased by the British Museum in 1838. Among the great collectors of books and patrons of binding of the latter half of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth, Jacques Auguste de Thou stands pre-eminent. He was born at Paris on the 8th of October 1553, and was the son of Christophe de Thou, Chief President of the Parliament of Paris, and his wife, Jaqueline Tuleu de Celi. Christophe de Thou himself possessed a fine library, which contained several books presented to him by Grolier as tokens of his gratitude to him for having saved his life and honour at a very critical period of his official career. This library he bequeathed to his son, who had already inherited a considerable number of books under the will of his uncle, Adrian de Thou, who died in 1570. These two collections formed the basis of Jacques Auguste de Thou's splendid library, which for forty years he never ceased to augment both by the purchase of several of the most celebrated libraries of the time and by the acquisition of single works, so that it finally contained not less than a thousand manuscripts and eight thousand printed books. Some of their bindings are very beautifully and elaborately ornamented in the fanfare manner (see Plate III.), but by far the greater number are of plain morocco, vellum, or calf, with the De Thou arms impressed in the centre of the covers. As De Thou was twice married, his arms varied considerably. When a bachelor they were : — Argent, a chevron between three gadflies sable. PLATE III. VALERII MAXIMI DICTORUM FACTORUMQUE MEMOKABILIUM LIBRI IX. ANTVERPI,E, I 574- RED MOROCCO. WITH ARMS OF JACQUES AUGUSTE DE THOU. Actual sise. FRENCH BOOKBINDING 35 His name occurs on a scroll placed below the escutcheon, the whole being enclosed by two branches of laurel (Fig. 13). Later he added a mono- Fig. 12. — CEuvres Spirituelks du P. Estienne Binet. Rouen, 1620. Brown morocco ; with arms of Mary de' Medici. o,i in. by 6| in. gram formed by the letters I. A. D. T. (Jacques Auguste de Thou). These arms and cypher he used until his marriage with Marie Barbancon, c 2 36 FRENCH BOOKBINDING daughter of Francois, Seigneur de Cani, which took place in the year 1587, when he added his wife's arms, gules with three lions crowned argent, to his own, and composed his cypher of the letters I. A. M. ©. Fig. 13. — Arms of Jacques Auguste de Thou. (Jacques, Auguste, Marie, Thou), the theta being made by the inter- section of the A and the M (Fig. 14). Marie Barbancon died in 1601, and in the following year De Thou married his second wife, Gasparde de la Chastre, daughter of Gaspard de la Chastre, Comte de Nancay, captain of the bodyguard of the king, whose arms superseded those of Marie on the shield ; and the monogram was changed to one consisting of the letters I. A. G. ©. (Jacques, Auguste, Gasparde, Thou), the theta in this case being formed by the intersection of two G's and the transverse portion of the A (Fig. 15). This illustrious historian, statesman, and bibliophile died on the 7th of May 1 617, after a long and painful illness, but his library was ever a great solace to him, and he preserved the faculties of his mind unimpaired FRENCH BOOKBINDING 37 to the end. On the last day of his life he wrote some Latin verses, in which he deplored the state of his health, and asks why he should linger still upon the earth and continue to try remedies which are worse than the disease. " Rather let me strive," he adds, " by pious prayers to attain heaven ; that life which approaches to the likeness of death is not worth preserving. Quid jam amplius moramur in terrestribus, Graviora morbo et experimur remedia ? Tcntanda ccelo per pias preces via : Nee vita tanti est, tamdiu, ut vivas, mori. De Thou was very anxious that his books should not be sold and dispersed after his death, and with a view of preserving his library in perpetuity in his family he inserted the following clause in his will : — " Bibliothecam meam XL amplius annorum spatio magna, diligentia. ac sumptu congestam (quam in- tegram conservari non solum familiae, sed etiam rei litterarias interest), dividi, vendi ac dissipari veto." His children when they grew up faithfully endeavoured to carry out his wishes, and his eldest son, Francois Auguste, Keeper of the Royal Library, a man of great erudition, took charge of the books until his death on the 12 th of September 1642, when he was beheaded at Lyons for his alleged participa- tion in what was called the conspiracy of Cinq-Mars. The bindings of the books acquired for the library after the decease of its founder are simply stamped with the De Thou arms, and a monogram com- posed of his initials and that of his wife Gasparde, whose death Fig, 14. -Arms of De Thou and his first wife, Marie Barbanqon. 38 FRENCH BOOKBINDING occurred in the year 1616, shortly before that of her husband. A very charming example of one of these bindings, executed by Le Gascon, is represented by Fig. 16. The second son, Achille Auguste, having died in 1635, the third son of the historian, who bore the same Christian names as his father, became by inheritance the owner of the library, which he enriched with many additions, and especially augmented it with the fine collection of his father-in-law, Hugues Picardet, a Fig. 15. — Arms of De Thou and his second wife, Gasparde de la Chastre. distinguished bibliophile. In 1660 De Thou received the title of Baron de Meslay. He died in 1677, when all these literary treasures became the property of Jacques Auguste de Thou, Abbe de Samer-aux-Bois et de Souillac, who three years later was obliged, in consequence of heavy losses experienced by the family, to dispose of this magnificent collection. It was purchased by Jean-Jacques Charron, Marquis de Menars, who acquired the whole of it, with the exception of a portion of the manu- scripts, which passed into the library of the king. In 1706 the Marquis FRENCH BOOKBINDING 39 sold it to the Bishop of Strasburg for the sum of 40,000 livres, who bequeathed it with all his other books to his nephew, the Prince de Soubise. It was finally dispersed in 1788. Among other collectors of this period who possessed books re- Fig. 16. — C. Plinii Crecilii Secundi Epistolarum Libri X. Lugd. Batav,, 1640. Red morocco ; with the De Thou arms. 5J in, by 3 in. markable for their bindings were the Constable Anne de Montmorency ; Antoinette de Vendome, wife of Claude de Lorraine, first Duke de Guise ; Catharine de Bourbon, Duchess d'Albret, sister of Henry IV. and wife of the Duke de Bar ; Louis Charles de Valois, Count d'Auvergne and Duke dAngouleme, natural son of Charles IX. and Marie Touchet ; 40 FRENCH BOOKBINDING Peter Ernest Count de Mansfeldt, the celebrated general of Charles V., and his son Charles. The books of Louis XIII., before he became king, most frequently bear his arms as Dauphin of France, the covers being studded with alternate rows of dolphins and fleurs-de-lis ; a double lambda being placed at the four corners. After he ascended the crown they were generally ornamented with a semis of fleurs-de-lis, either alone or in conjunction with his initial ensigned with a crown. He used the same arms as his predecessor, the H being replaced by an L. Some charming bindings decorated with very beautiful and delicate tooling, and bearing the crowned initials of himself and his queen, Anne of Austria, are ascribed to Mace Ruette, who succeeded Clovis Eve as the royal binder. A representation of one of these bindings is given in Plate IV. On certain of these books, in a small centre panel, is a monogram of the letters H and D. Guigard, in his Armorial du Bibliophile, considers that these may possibly be the initials of Henry IV. and Gabrielle d' Estrees, and show that the volumes belonged to that king and his mistress before they passed into the library of Louis XIII. Anne of Austria was also a great lover of books, and displayed great taste in their bindings. These she had tooled in a variety of ways. Some of them have a semis of fleurs-de-lis only ; others have a monogram consisting of two As (one inverted) or a single A in combination with the fleurs-de-lis. Nearly all the covers bear the arms of the queen encircled with the cordeliere, indicating that the volumes were bound after the death of her husband. The bindings which date from the early years of her reign do not essentially differ in style from those of Mary de' Medici. Gaston, Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIII., possessed two libraries, one at Paris and the other at Blois. His volumes were bound in morocco or calf ; a double G, with or without a crown, being stamped in the centre and at the corners of the covers. PLATE IV. VOYAGES ET CONQUESTES DU CAPITAINE FERDINAND COURTOIS. PARIS, I588. OLIVE MOROCCO. WITH INITIALS OF LOUIS XIII AND ANNE OF AUSTRIA. Actual size. CHAPTER III Le Gascon — Florimond Badier — Antoine Ruette — Peiresc — Louis XIV.- — Marie Therese — Sir Kenelm Digby — Cardinal Mazarin — Nicolas Fouquet. Foremost among the bindings of the seventeenth century are those attributed to the mysterious Le Gascon, a personage at one time con- sidered to be so mythical that even his very> existence was regarded as uncertain. Documents, however, have lately been discovered which leave no longer any doubt on this point. In the register of the Guild of St. Jean, now preserved in the French National Library, is an entry of certain payments made to him in the year 1622 for materials used in binding a missal for the use of the Guild. " Au Gascon, pour une peau de maroquin incarnat pour relier le missel du Concile, in fol., que la Compagnie du Sieur Chappelet et consors ont donne en blanc a la Confrairie \l. ioj". Pour un sinet pour servir audit missel 3/. 10/. Pour une bazane pour une housse audit missel o/. js." As no charge is specified for binding the volume, Le Gascon probably made a gift of his work to the Guild, of which he was most likely a freeman. The fact that he was chosen to bind a book of this import- ance shows that so early as the year 1622 he enjoyed the reputation of being a skilful craftsman. The same manuscript contains a further notice of the volume, which is described as " bound in red morocco, dore a petits fers, 1 and covered with a case of violet sheep-skin." This missal was used by the confraternity for twenty-three years, when it was replaced by a new one, presented by Gilles Dubois, on resigning the office of Master of the Guild. Several references to Le Gascon are also to be found in the correspondence of Peiresc 1 Small hand-tools used in gilding and binding. 42 FRENCH BOOKBINDING and Dupuy. Peiresc having complained to Dupuy that Le Gascon had badly cropped a book which had been given to him with other volumes to be folded, beaten, and cut, so that they might be more readily sent through the post, Dupuy, in a letter to Peiresc, dated 1 2th of April 1627, expresses his surprise that Le Gascon should have committed this fault, " car il est assez scrupuleux." In another letter written by Peiresc to Dupuy, dated the 12th of February 1629, reference is made to a copy of the works of Tertullian, bound by Le Gascon, which Peiresc intended sending to a cardinal residing in Italy ; and Francois Auguste de Thou, the son of the historian, writing to Dupuy on the 25th of February 1629, from Alexandria, makes mention of a very beautiful copy of the Koran which he had bought there, adding, " la reliure vous plaira, et je m'assure que Le Gascon s'etudiera d'imiter la dorure." While these extracts amply prove the existence of Le Gascon, and also show that he was a binder as well as a gilder of books, they give no clue as to his identity. M. Gruel, in his Manuel Historique et Biblio- graphique de V Amateur de Reliure, is inclined to believe that Le Gascon is identical with Florimond Badier, a binder who is thought to have come from Gascony to Paris, where he was apprenticed in 1630 to Jean Thomas, a gilder, and who became a master binder in 1645. M. Gruel brings forward many arguments in support of this view, and considers that the form of the compartments, and the arrangement of the petits fers on the bindings ascribed to Le Gascon, are the same as the ornamen- tations which are found on those bearing the name of Badier. This he states to be particularly the case with respect to the little couped head executed in pointille work, that is, by a dotted instead of a solid line, which is so frequently introduced in the decoration, and which has been often accepted as the mark — indeed as the likeness — of the artist. Monsieur Thoinan, in his Les Relieurs Franfais, on the other hand, comes to a different conclusion. He considers Le Gascon and Badier to be different persons, but maintains that the couped head is the signature of the latter binder. If he be right, it follows that all the pointille bindings with this distinguishing mark, and indeed all others in the same style as those which bear the head, are the work of Badier, and not of Le Gascon. Only two bindings signed by Badier are known — the very fine FRENCH BOOKBINDING 43 one on the De Imitatione Christi, printed in 1640, and preserved in the French National Library ; and that which ornaments a copy of Les Plaidoyez et Harangues de Monsieur Le Maistre, printed at Paris in 1657, and dedicated by the editor, M. Issali, to Pompone de Bellievre, Chief President of the Parliament of Paris, whose monogram is stamped on the outside of the covers, and arms on the doublure. 1 At the bottom of the lower doublure occur the words Badier facieb., which give so great an interest to the binding. The book was purchased at the Destailleur Sale at Paris in 1891 by Mr. Christie-Miller, of Britwel! Court, Bucks, who has kindly allowed the writer of this article to compare the binding with the beautiful examples attributed to Le Gascon preserved in the British Museum, and the result of a very careful investigation leads him to the conclusion that they are not the work of the same hand, the Badier tooling lacking the extraordinary finish and refinement of that on the Le Gascon bindings, and giving the impression of being only a close and clever imitation of that great master's ornamentation. MM. Marius-Michel, in their work La Reliure Francaise, regard the binding of the De Imitatione Christi, which is signed Florimond Badier fecit inv., also as the work of an imitator of Le Gascon, the tooling being heavy and irregular ; and M. Thoinan himself allows that, while it is decidedly skilful, it is wanting in the certainty of handling which is so apparent in the other bindings he assigns to Badier. He endeavours to account for this by stating that it is evidently an early production of this binder, but it will be noticed that the date of the printing of Les Plaidoyez et Harangues de Monsieur Le Maistre is as late as 1657, and the binding of this volume is decidedly inferior to that of the Imitatio. It is also highly improbable that Badier would so ostentatiously have affixed his name to these two bindings, and have omitted to sign others of much greater excellence, had he executed them. The dates of the printing of the books upon which the bindings attributed to Le Gascon are found undoubtedly constitute a difficulty in ascribing these beautiful works of art to that binder. By far the greater number of the volumes were published after 1640, and although it is true that the date of the printing of the little New Testament 1 The inside of the cover when lined with leather. 44 FRENCH BOOKBINDING depicted in Plate V. is 1633, and that of another work preserved in the British Museum, Chacon's Historia utriusque belli Dacici a Trajano C\ in. execute my orders discreetly and faithfully, my family will pay you 1,000 ducats upon the production of this note to them." The volume from Von Hoym's library of which Fig. 24 is a 62 FRENCH BOOKBINDING representation is a copy of De Rerum Naiura, by Lucretius, printed at Paris in 1570. It is bound in brown calf, and has the arms of Von Hoym impressed in the centre of each cover ; the White Eagle of Poland, of which order he was a knight, occurring on the panels of the back. Padeloup was the binder, and his ticket, which reads Relie par Padeloup le jeune, place Sorbonne a Paris, is affixed to the title-page. The volume was bequeathed to the British Museum by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville. Count von Hoym's books were sold after his death, together with his collections of paintings, bronzes, and other works of art. The library realised 85,000 livres, less by 30,000 livres than it cost. Jeanne Baptiste d'Albret de Luynes, Countess de Verrue, who was born in 1670, also deserves special notice on account of her splendid collection of books and paintings. She was the daughter of the Duke de Luynes and Anne de Rohan, his second wife, and was married at a very early age to the Count de Verrue, a Piedmontese officer. Two years after their marriage the young couple paid a visit to Turin, and the Countess was presented to Victor Amadeus II., Duke of Savoy and first King of Sardinia, who fell deeply in love with her, and eventually, but not without great difficulty, persuaded her to become his mistress. She soon practically ruled both the Court and the State. Saint-Simon says of her " that she established her empire over the whole Court of Savoy ; the sovereign was at her feet with such respect as would be shown to a goddess. She had a share in the granting of indulgences, and dispensed all favours." After some time, however, becoming greatly dissatisfied with her life in Savoy, she determined to quit the country. Carefully concealing her intentions, she had her collections secretly conveyed to France, and then, with the aid of her brother, the Chevalier de Luvnes, fled from Turin. Availing herself of the absence of the Duke, she dressed herself in male attire and rode on horseback to Susa, crossed Mont Cenis in a litter, and then took a carriage to Dampierre, one of the seats of the De Luynes family. Soon after her arrival in France she retired to a convent, where she remained as long as her husband lived, but after his death, at the battle of Blenheim in 1704, she caused a magnificent mansion to be constructed for her in Paris, now the Hotel des Conseils de Guerre FRENCH BOOKBINDING 63 which soon became the favourite rendezvous of all the beaux esprits of the time. Here she lived in great luxury, and formed a gallery of no less than four hundred paintings by Rubens, Vandyke, Claude Lorraine, and other great artists. The collections of gems, china, and engravings were also very extensive and choice. Her library, which was a par- ticularly fine one, was very rich in romances, memoirs, and theatrical pieces. The books are generally somewhat plainly bound in morocco or calf, with the arms of the Countess impressed on the sides ; on some Fig. 25. — Arms of Countess ae Verrue. of them is also stamped the word Me u don, the name of a country residence where she possessed a second collection (see Fig. 25). Devoted to art and letters, the Countess de Verrue passed the remainder of her days in tranquillity among her much-loved treasures, and died on the 1 8th of November 1736, leaving the following lines to serve as her epitaph : — Ci-git, dans une paix profonde, Cette dame de volupte, Qui, pour plus grande surete, Fit son paradis dans cc monde. CHAPTER V Padeloup — Derome — Bradel — Lemonnier — Tessier — Louis XV. — Mesdames de France — Fournier — Madame de Pompadour — Douceur — Madame du Barry — Bisiaux — Louis XVI. — Marie Antoinette — Ract — Dubuisson — Laferte — Vente — Jubert — The brothers Boze- rian — Thouvenin — Pur gold — Simier — Cape — Bauzonnet — Trautz — Cuzin — Niedree — D uru — Tkibaron- Joly — Hardy Mesnil — L or tic — Chambolle. Antoine Michel Padeloup, commonly called Padeloup le jeune, to distinguish him from his brothers, was the most celebrated member of a family which during five generations produced a large number of binders and stationers. The earliest of whom we have any record is Antoine Padeloup, who was apprenticed to Nicolas Guerard in 1623, and obtained his warrant as master binder in 1633. He married Francoise Cusson, sister of Jean Cusson, who according to La Caille was " the most able binder of his time." Francois Padeloup, the last binder of the family, was still alive towards the end of the eighteenth century. Antoine Michel Padeloup, who belonged to the third generation, was born on the 22nd of December 1685. He served his apprenticeship with his father, Michel Padeloup ; and on the decease of Luc Antoine Boyet succeeded him as " Relieur du Roy," having as his colleague Augustin Du Seuil, who had married Padeloup's cousin Francoise. He died on the 7th of September 1758. He was twice married, and left a numerous family by each of his wives. Padeloup worked for all the chief collectors of his time, among them being Count von Hoym and Madame de Pompadour. His bindings are famed for the beauty of the leather, and the excellence of the forwarding, as well as the graceful tooling with which the more important of them are embellished. By the aid of the etiquette, or ticket, which he generally placed in the books which he bound we are fortunately able to recognise PLATE VI. OFFICE I'K LA SEMAINE SAINTE. PARIS, 1712. MOSAIC BINDING. FOUND BV PAFJF.LOUP. WITH ARMS 0* THE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS ON DOUBLURE. Actual size. FRENCH BOOKBINDING 65 many of them with certainty, but as either he did not always adopt this practice, or the tickets have in some cases been removed from the volumes, a certain amount of doubt still exists with respect to a few of the productions ascribed to him. On one of his tickets, affixed to the Carte generate de la Monarchie Francaise, printed in 1733, he styles himself " Relieur ordinaire du Roy de Portugal," but this title he appears to have presented in 1741 to his son Jean, and his tickets generally read, " Relie par Padeloup le jeune, place Sorbonne a Paris." Padeloup used many different styles of ornamentation for his bindings, some of them being remarkable for their simplicity, while others are of a very elaborate character, but his principal decoration consists of beautiful dentelle or lace borders of extreme richness and elegance. Many of his bindings have also very graceful doublures. Padeloup produced, too, a number of mosaic or inlaid bindings, the execution of which is almost always per- fect ; but, while the eye rests with a great amount of pleasure upon these really charming volumes, it must be confessed that the repetition of the tile-like pattern with which many of them are decked has a somewhat feeble and monotonous effect. Plate VI. represents a fine example of one of these mosaic bindings, which was probably executed by him, although it may possibly have been bound by his cousin, Nicolas Padeloup the younger, who was binder to the Duke of Orleans, and is known to have done some work of this description. The book which it encloses is a copy of the Office de la Semaine Sainte, printed at Paris in 17 12, and bound for Francoise Marie de Bourbon, called Mademoiselle de Blois, daughter of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan. Born in 1677, she was legitimised in 168 1, and married in 1692 to Philippe, Duke of Orleans, who afterwards became Regent of France. The exterior of the volume is covered with brown morocco, inlaid with olive and red ; the insides of the covers being lined with red morocco, tooled with a handsome gilt border, which encloses the arms of the duchess. The fly-leaf is of gilt paper, a fashion of the time. The book, which measures 8 inches by 5 inches, was bequeathed to the British Museum by Felix Slade, Esq. The most famous of these bindings is that of the Regent Orleans's copy of Les Amours Pastorales de Daphnis et de Cloe, a marvel of red, blue, and citron morocco, elaborately tooled in gold, and bearing on each cover the arms of the duke. This triumph of the E 66 FRENCH BOOKBINDING binder's art — at least as far as the workmanship is concerned — an octavo volume, was sold a few years ago for the enormous sum of 17,500 francs. The number of binders bearing the name of Derome is even g' ater than that of Padeloup. Thoinan, in his excellent and exhaustive work Les Relieurs Fratifais, gives a list of eighteen who belonged to the first-named family, and of fifteen who were members of the se> ond. Claude and Andre Derome, who became master binders respectively in the years 1663 and 1660, were sons of a Pierre Derome, whose oc; ipa- tion is unknown, but who was probably a binder. In the bra of the family descending from Claude we find eleven members c the profession. It terminated with Pierre Michel Derome, who was re 'ed as a master in 1777. In that descending from Andre there were fuve, the last of them being Nicolas Denis Derome, called le jeuni., the most celebrated of them all, and to whom we almost invariably r 'ude when we speak of a binding by Derome. His father, Jacques Ar tie Deiome, was also a binder who did some excellent work, ar vas greatly esteemed in his day, but his reputation is obscured by that c his more famous son. The designs used by Derome on his bindings are extremely grs :ful, and rival those of Padeloup, to which they bear a strong reseint' ice. If it be true that he purchased the material and stamps of this b". ic at the sale of his effects after his death, it explains to some extent t 1 »at similarity of the ornamentation employed by the two artists, j *ne executed many mosaic bindings, but his great renown has been game, by his dentelles, especially those in which he introduced a little bird with outstretched wings, and which are in consequence termed dentelles a Vciseau. The first conception of these beautiful patterns is probabi due to the art iron-work of the eighteenth century, which may still be seen in the balconies and staircases of the period. MM. Marius Michel, in La Reliure Franfaise, say that Derome sought and found in the industries of his time the elements of a new decoration, and his efforts were crowned with success with the d;ntellss to which he has given his name, and which are distinguished from preceding ones by not being made up of the same tools in repetition, but in combination, thus affording much more variety. PLATE VII. LES GRANS CRONIQUES DE FRANCE. ANTHOINE VEKARH, PARIS, 1 493. RED MOROCCO. BOUND BY DEROME. 1 5 -\ in ■ by 1 1 in . FRENCH BOOKBINDING 67 The various etiquettes, or tickets, of Derome read : — No. 1. Relie par Derome le jeune, rue St. Jaque audessus de S. Benoist. No. 2. Relie par Derome le jeune, rue St. Jaque audessus de St. Benoist (a larger ticket than No. 1). No. 3. Relie par Derome dit le jeune, etablie en 1760, rue St- Jacques, pres le college de plessis, No. 65. No. 4. Relie par Derome le jeune demeure presentment rue St. Jacques, pres le College du Plessis, Hotel de la Couture No. 65 en 1785. The ticket of another Derome — Nicolas, the second son of Jacques Antoine Derome — is occasionally found in books bound by him. It reads : Relie par De Rome, rue des Chiens, pres Ste. Genevieve, Paris. His bindings are good, but somewhat heavy in appearance. Derome has been repeatedly accused of mercilessly cropping the margins of the volumes entrusted to him in order to obtain evenness of the edges, forgetting that the binding is made for the book and not the book for the binding ; but, although the charge is not altogether without foundation, his offence has been greatly exaggerated. Derome was born on October 1, 1731, became a master binder on March 31, 176 1, and was elected one of the Gardes en Charge of the Community of the Master Binders and Gilders of the City and University of Paris on May 10, 1773, at the same time as Francois Gaudreau, binder to the dauphine. He died about the year 1788, and was succeeded in his business by his nephew, Alexis Pierre Bradel, who, however, failed to maintain the reputation of the house at the height to which his uncle had raised it. The style of Derome is well shown by the binding reproduced in Plate VII. The material is red morocco, the sides being ornamented with a very graceful and elaborate dentelle border. The insides of the covers and the end papers are lined with blue watered silk, and the volume — a copy of Les Grans Croniques de France, printed by Antoine Verard at Paris in 1493 — contains the ticket of the binder. It was purchased by the British Museum in 1848. The family of Lemonnier, or Monnier — both forms of the name were indifferently used by those bearing it — furnished even a larger number of binders than those of Padeloup and Derome, for there were at least twenty members of it who followed the profession. The earliest known E 2 68 FRENCH BOOKBINDING is Pierre Monnier, who was apprenticed to Pierre Vinay in 1623 ; and the latest, Philbert Charles Lemonnier, who is believed by Thoinan to have worked in Paris as late as 18 10. The two of the greatest note were Louis Francois Lemonnier, who became a master binder in 1737, and Jean Charles Henri, his son, who was admitted as a master in 1757, and elected Garde in 1769. He was binder to the Duke of Orleans, and in a copy of the Poesies de Malherbe, which he bound for that prince, and which is now preserved in the library of Versailles, we find his ticket pasted inside the cover. It reads : " Le Monnier, seul Relieur-Doreur de Livres de Monseigneur le Due d'Orleans, et de sa Maison. Demeure rue et vis-a-vis le College de Beauvais, a Paris." This ticket, which has a handsome border enclosing the Orleans arms, was also used by Tessier, who succeeded Le Monnier as binder to the duke, the name and address alone being changed. It is probable that both the father and the son had a share in the production of the famous mosaic bindings which bear the name of Monnier — unfortunately without any initial — for which collectors are willing to give such large sums : one was sold at the Beckford sale in 1882 for £356. Although the execution of these bindings leaves but little to be desired, the designs are often fantastical, and not always in the best taste. The decoration of the little French bible figured in Plate VIII. is, however, quite free from these defects, and there are few examples of mosaic work in existence which can be compared with the binding of this charming volume. The material is red morocco, ornamented with flowers formed by inlaid leathers of various colours. The flowers are principally of a cream colour, and the leaves are olive ; the outlines and fibres being very delicately and skilfully tooled in gold. The workmanship is per- fect, and the effect is altogether pleasing. The binding has the advantage of being in as good condition as when it left Monnier's hands, and time has greatly enhanced its beauty by mellowing the tone of the colours. The name of the binder is twice stamped on each cover. The books which belonged to Louis XV. possess but little interest, and, with some exceptions, are bound in the plain style of the time, with his arms on the covers (Fig. 26) ; but his three daughters, the PLATE VIII. LA SAINTE BIBLE. COLOGNE, I 739- MOSAIC BINDING. BOUND BY MONNIER. Actual size. FRENCH BOOKBINDING 6 9 Mesdames de France, Adelaide, Sophie, and Victoire, each formed a choice collection of books, prettily bound in morocco, partly by Derome and partly by Fournier, a binder, bookseller, and stationer to the Court, who occupied apartments in the palace of Versailles. His ticket reads: " A la Chercheuse d'Esprit, Rue Satory, vis-a-vis la rue de Versailles ; et au Chateau a cote de Monseigneur le Due de Luynes, a Versailles. Fournier, Libraire, Relieur du Roi et de la Reine, et Marchand Papetier suivant la Cour ; Vend, achete et relie toutes sortes de Livres, Vend Papier, Plumes, Encre, Regis- tres et generalement tout ce qui concerne la Papeterie. ' A Fontainebleau, au cha- teau, Galerie de Diane. Au chateau a Compiegne, a cote de la Sacristie. Au chateau a Marly, a cote de la chapelle.' " He had also another ticket, in which he styled himself " Relieur de la Famille Royale et Papetier des Bureaux du Roi." The volumes from the different libraries of these princesses are distinguished by the colour of the leather ; those of Madame Adelaide being clothed in red morocco, and those of Madame Sophie and Madame Victoire respectively in citron and olive. Their arms — the arms of France — on a lozenge-shaped shield, surmounted by a royal coronet (Fig. 27), are always impressed in the centre of the covers. The most important of these libraries was that of Madame Adelaide, of which a manuscript catalogue was made in 1786, now preserved in the library of the Arsenal in Paris. At the Revolution the books of the three princesses were confiscated, and a large number of them passed into the library of Versailles. Many are also to be found in the Bibliotheque Fig. 26. — Arms of Louis XV 7o FRENCH BOOKBINDING Nationale, and among them is a volume which belonged to Madame Victoire, on the fly-leaf of which occurs this simple note, written by the Commissioner of the Convention, "Victoire Capet No. 1996." The library of the British Museum also possesses several examples. Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, who for nineteen years was the virtual ruler of France, was not possessed of many virtues ; but she loved books, and her library, which consisted of upwards of 3,000 volumes, as well as an extensive collection of engravings, was a fine one. As might be expected, it abounded in light works, principally romances, but still a fair number of books of a more serious character formed part of its contents, and all branches of science and the arts were repre- sented in it. Madame de Pompa- dour could boast of many elegant accomplishments. She played the lute and harpsichord with great skill, but it was in the arts of painting, drawing, and engraving that she particularly distinguished herself ; and Voltaire has sung her talents in the following pretty lines : — Pompadour, ton crayon divin Devait dessiner ton visage, Jamais une plus belle main N'eut fait un plus bel ouvragc. Fie. 27- — Arms of Mesiames de France. c\ j . j „_ r ,\ r . & ' J bne decorated some or the nnest pieces of Sevres porcelain with her paintings, and many excellent engravings by her are preserved in the French National Library, several of them from her own designs. She was also taught the art of engraving gems by Jacques Guay, and numerous examples of her work on onyx, jasper, and other precious stones show the remarkable proficiency to which she had attained. After the death of Madame de Pompadour, which took place on the 14th of April 1764, her books were sold, and a catalogue of them was published in 1765 by J. Herissant, the king's printer. A copy in the FRENCH BOOKBINDING 71 library of the British Museum contains the prices in MS. which the books fetched at the sale. These prices are curiously low compared with the sums paid for the same books in recent times, as the following examples show : — Longus. Amours de Daphnis et Chios', printed at Paris in 1757, 4°; bound in red morocco. Sold at the Laroche La Carelle sale for 7,000 frs. ; 24 livres in 1765. Le Sage. Le Diable Boiteux. Paris, 1756. 12 . 3 vols, in blue morocco. Realised 4,900 frs. at the Behague sale in 1880 ; 24 livres in 1765. Bellin. Description geographique de la Guiane. Paris, 1763. 4°. Red morocco. 1,800 frs. at the Behague sale ; 24 livres in 1765. Rabelais. Vie inestimable de Gargantua. Lyon, 1537. 16 . Citron morocco. Fetched 1,200 frs. at the Didot sale in 1878 ; 3 livres in 1765. The books of Madame de Pompadour are always well, but generally somewhat plainly, bound, with a floral border, or one of lines only, on the sides. They always bear her arms — three castles argent on an azure field — in the centre of the covers. Padeloup, Derome, and Louis Douceur all worked for her. The pretty little volume from her library shown in Fig. 28 is a copy of Boccaccio's Ameto, printed at Florence in 1529. It is bound in red morocco, with a graceful floral border, enclosing the arms of the marchioness on the sides, and some very effective tooling on the back. Douceur was probably its binder. In 1765 it fetched but four livres ; at the present time it would probably realise ^50. It was bequeathed to the British Museum by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville. At this period every woman of fashion had a library, and even Madame du Barry, who read and wrote with difficulty, considered that one was indispensable to a person of her rank. Her books are bound in red morocco, and bear her arms, with her motto, Boutez en avant, upon the sides. Bisiaux was her binder, and charged her ten livres for 4tos, four livres ten sols for 8vos, and three livres for i2mos. All her possessions were confiscated in 1793, and the greater part of her books were placed in the library of Versailles, but a few are to be found in private collections. The volumes which belonged to Louis XVI. are usually bound 7 2 FRENCH BOOKBINDING in red morocco, with but slight ornamentation. Before he became king they bear his arms as dauphin, but after he ascended the throne the usual shield of the kings of France was impressed on the covers. His queen, the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, patronised letters, and had a sincere regard for books. She formed two libraries — one at the ta ^EESEggi gEE EEEE^ESaaSja ) Fig. 28. — Ameto del Boccaccio. Firenze, 1529. Red morocco ; with arms of Madame de Pompadour. 5J in. by 3^ in. Tuileries, and the other at the Petit Trianon. The collection at the Tuileries consisted of 1,371 works in 4,712 volumes. These books were confiscated by a decree of the Convention, and in 1793 were placed in the Bibliotheque Nationale, where they still remain. A few of them, however, passed into the cabinets of private collectors. FRENCH BOOKBINDING 73 Millin, in the Magasin Encyclopedique, gives the following account of the library and its sequestration. "The different collections of books," he writes, " which existed in the palace of the Tuileries were removed to the Bibliotheque Nationale. The most considerable was that of the queen ; it consisted principally of a large number of works of French, English, and Italian literature. The volumes were bound in morocco, and bore the arms of the queen, with the exception of the English books, which had English bindings. The collection contained a very beautiful series of the maps of France, arranged by provinces, and also many fine copies of scientific works, which had been presented by their authors, or were subscribed for by the Court. It also possessed a large collection of plays, a number of operas by the great Italian composers, and a com- plete set of the works of Gluck. What is somewhat surprising is the fact that there were so few books in German, the native language of the queen." Millin adds " that the king, whose library at the Tuileries was of little importance, his books being principally kept at Versailles, in pursu- ance of his studies frequently had recourse to the library of the queen." The books in the library at the Petit Trianon consisted principally of romances and tales, not always of the best description. When they were confiscated, some of them were given to provincial libraries, but the greater part passed into the public library of Versailles. As we have already said, a few of the queen's books were acquired by private individuals, and among them a devotional work entitled Office de la Divine Providence, printed at Paris in 1757, which she used during her imprisonment in the Temple and Conciergerie, and on the last leaf of which, a few hours before her death, she wrote the following affecting words : — " Ce 16 Octobre a 4-h^ du matin. Mon Dieu ! ayez pitie de moi ! mes yeux n'ont plus de larmes pour prier pour vous, mes pauvres enfants. Adieu. Adieu. "Marie Antoinette." This little volume, to which so sad an interest is attached, is bound in green morocco, now much faded, and its covers once bore the arms of the queen, but these have been entirely effaced. It is now the property of Madame Garinet, of Chalons-sur-Marne. 74 FRENCH BOOKBINDING The bindings executed for Marie Antoinette while dauphiness are much superior to those done for her in later years, and some of them are fine examples of perfect workmanship and excellent taste. The volumes which belonged to the library of the queen in the Tuileries are said by Brunet to have been bound by a binder named Blaizot. They are usually covered with red morocco, and have her arms impressed on the covers. Those which formed the library at the Petit Trianon are generally bound in full or half-calf. In addition to the arms, they bear on the back or sides the initials C.T. (Chateau de Trianon) surmounted by a crown. Those in full calf were bound by Fournier, and those in half binding by Ract, a binder and stationer. A representation (Fig. 29) is given of a little book which once belonged to the queen, but is now preserved in the library of the British Museum. It is entitled Omaggio Poetico di Antonio di Gennaro, Duca di Belforte, alia Maestrd di Maria Giuseppa, Arciduchessa d 'Austria e Regina di Napoli, and was printed at Paris in 1768. It is bound in red morocco, and has the arms of Marie Antoinette as dauphiness stamped in the centre of the covers. Michel Antoine Padeloup was succeeded as binder in ordinary to the king by Pierre Paul Dubuisson, who was a gilder rather than a binder, as the work performed by him was principally confined to tooling the books which were bound under his direction. Some of his tickets read, " Dore par Dubuisson, rue St. Jacques." The decoration of the volumes which issued from his workshops is distinguished by much taste and great delicacy of execution. Dubuisson possessed a very considerable knowledge of heraldry, and formed a library very rich in documents relating to that subject. In 1757, in conjunction with Gastelier de La Tour, he published a work in two volumes in i2mo, entitled, Armorial des principales maisons et families du royaume, et particulierement de celles de Paris et de V He de France, etc. Ouvrage enrichi de pres de quatre mille ecus sons graves en taille-douce. He died in 1762, and was, in turn, succeeded as binder to the king by Pierre Antoine Laferte, who was considered one of the best craftsmen of his day, and is believed by M. Thoinan to have worked for Madame de Pompadour. He died in 1769. There were several other members of his family who bore the reputation of being good binders. Pierre Vente and Jean Pierre Jubert, Fig. 29. — Omaggio Poetico di Antonio di Gennaro, Duca di Belforte. Parigi, 1768. Red morocco ; with arms of Marie Antoinette as Dauphiness. 7 in. by \\ in. 76 FRENCH BOOKBINDING who both died about the end of the century, may perhaps also be ranked among the more noted binders of the time. During the troubles and excesses of the Revolution the race of great collectors in France disappeared ; their libraries were confiscated or dis- persed, and under the rule of the Convention the art of fine binding became nearly extinct. The few bindings which were produced during this period are decorated with a figure of Liberty or some other revo- lutionary or patriotic emblem. With the establishment of the Empire a certain amount of revival took place, and the brothers Bozerian won for themselves a very considerable reputation as binders, but it has not survived to the present day. Their work is not wanting in talent, but it is not characterised by much taste. Thouvenin was really the first artist who restored the art of binding in France to something like its old excellence. Nodier speaks of him in terms of high praise. " II n'est pas ici question du temps ou, emporte par le gout des innovations a la mode, il rafEna sur les dentelles baroques de la reliure imperiale, ou inventa ces empreintes, plus maussades encore, qui redui- sirent la main-d'ceuvre du doreur de livres a l'ignoble artifice du fer a gaufres ; mais de ces deux ou trois annees de perfection presque achevee qui le consumerent, et pendant lesquelles il s'est reporte avec un habile courage aux beaux jours de Derome, de Padeloup, de Du Seuil, d'Anguerrand, de Boyet, de Le Gascon, pour les surpasser en les imitant. Les noms que je viens de citer sont ceux des maitres de cet art, qui a cela de particulier qu'il n'a pas produit jusqu'a nous plus de trois excellents ouvriers par siecle. " Thouvenin est mort quand il arrivait au plus haut degre de son talent ; Thouvenin est mort en revant des perfectionnements qu'il aurait obtenus, qu'il aurait seul obtenus peut-etre ; Thouvenin est mort pauvre, somme tous les hommes de genie qui ne sont pas hommes d'affaires." He died in 1834. An illustration of a binding by him is given in Fig. 30. The material employed is smooth brown morocco, ornamented with exquisite fine tooling in the fanfare style. The insides of the covers are lined with a rich red morocco, the decoration being of the same kind as that of the exterior, but of a different pattern. The edges of the leaves are gilt and gauffred, and the name of the binder is stamped on the back of the volume. The book is Le mistere de la resurrection de Fig. 30. — Le mistere de la resurrection de iesucrist. Par iekan michei. Paris. Brown morocco. Bound by Thouvenin. \o\ in. by ~j\ in. 78 FRENCH BOOKBINDING nostre Seigneur iesucrist, par iehan michel, and was printed at Pari, by Verard about 1495. ^ was purchased by the British Museum in 1847. At the period of the Restoration, Simier, binder to the king, did some work which was not destitute of merit, but which was decidedly inferior to that of Thouvenin. Purgold, the contemporary of Thou- venin and Simier, was an excellent workman, and Cape, who was born in 1806 and died in 1867, was certainly one of the best craftsmen of his day ; but the reputation of Trautz, who was born in 1808 at Pforzheir in the Grand-Duchy of Baden, is greater than that of any or' modern binder. He served his apprenticeship at Heidelberg, and in 1 entered the service of Bauzonnet, his future father-in-law, as gilder, whose partner he became in 1840, when the bindings executed by the firm were signed Bauzonnet-Trautz. In 1851 Bauzonnet retired from the business, and Trautz continued it alone, changing the signature to Trautz-Bauzonnet. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to excel the work of Trautz, both as regards the forwarding of the volumes entrusted to his care, and the delicacy and finish of the tooling with which he adorned their covers. He was also noted for the excellence of the materials he employed. All the morocco he used was tanned by the old processes, and not by the aid of chemical agents. While there is but little that can be called original in the conception of his designs, he did not copy the great artists of the past quite so servilely as some of his fellow-craftsmen; and it is said that he employed so great a variety of tools that no two of his bindings are exactly alike. Examples of his work are greatly prized by collectors, and they realise very high prices. One fetched 6,880 frs. at the Pichon sale in 1869. Trautz died in 1879. Cuzin, whose bindings are considered by some to equal those of Trautz, Niedree, Duru (see the very fine example of his skill represented in Fig. 31), Thibaron-Joly, Hardy-Mesnil, Lortic, and Chambolle, who succeeded Duru, were all, as regards the technical accomplishment of their work, binders of extraordinary excellence, but we look in vain for any originality in the ornamentation of their books ; the motifs being all taken from the designs of the great artists of the sixteenth, seven- teenth, and eighteenth centuries. Mr. Herbert P. Home, in his admirable work The Bindi)ig of Books, makes some remarks on this Fig. 31. — La grand danse macabre. Lyon, 1555. Green morocco inlaid with red. Bound by Duru. io|- in. by 7 in. 80 FRENCH BOOKBINDING subject which are well worth quoting: "It does not require any profound critical insight," he writes, " to perceive how futile are these attempts to revive a past style. No man can escape the spirit of the age in which he lives : the modern gilder, in imitating some old binding, is not able, as he supposes, to reproduce the spirit of the original ; he only betrays his own want of invention, and his copy remains, for all his labours, the mechanical production of his own time." The difficulty, however, of escaping from the traditions of the past is not confined to the binders of France, but appears to be universal. The invention of a new style in binding seems as little likely as one in architecture. Still, we venture to hope that some genius may arise who will be able to unite originality of design with the marvellous accuracy and finish which distinguish the work of the present day, and thus make bookbinding once more a living art. ORTFOLIO. Will yield many galldns of Lather. 365 As Bland as Cream. i SHAVES FOR 6 d. A STICK OF VINOLIA SHAVING SOAP IS SAID TO LAST A YEAR. VINOLIA SHAVING STICKS, Premier, (id.) 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