UC-NRLF 12fi 332 MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS A CATALOGUE OF AN EXHIBITION Mo. A MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS A CATALOGUE OF AN EXHIBITION 9 9 9 THE GROLIER CLUB 29 EAST 320 STREET, NEW YORK JANUARY 23 TO FEBRUARY 22, 1902 PREFACE following account of mosaic 1 bindings does A. not pretend to trace the development of orna- ment as found in gold- tooled bindings, except so far as it is necessary in connection with inlaid work ; nor can it hope to offer much that is new in the history of bookbinding. It attempts only, by an orderly arrangement of the few facts which are scattered through the works of various writers, to lead to an intelligent comprehension of an exhi- bition believed to be unique. It remains to express indebtedness and thanks to those writers, both French and English, from whose books these facts have been taken, and especially to MM. Henri Beraldi and Ernest Thoinan, Mr. H. P. Home, and Miss S. T. Prideaux. 1 The term mosaic has been used in this catalogue because of its general acceptance by writers on bookbinding, though inlaid would seem to be a better expression in most cases. M21222 INTRODUCTION A MOSAIC binding is one which has on its covers, or doublure, or both, a pattern made by a combination of small, inlaid pieces of colored leather, paper, or painted vellum, outlined or tooled with gold. A mosaic binding is as different from a gold- tooled binding as a colored picture is from one in black and white ; and the rules governing its com- position should be as different. An appreciation of this is seen in the work of the best periods, but too often so-called mosaic bindings are compositions in gold-tooled lines on polychrome backgrounds. The motives used in gold-tooled bindings had their origin in the colored book ornamentation of the East. The brilliantly painted Persian and Arabian manuscripts in the Saracenic style gave these forms, it is thought, to the Venetians, who used them first in their printed books and then on their bindings. In the beginning only the simplest forms were copied in blind or gold lines, but soon the patterns became more elaborate, and eventually, as might have been expected of a race always sus- ceptible to color, a varnished incrustation, like enamel, was made to add the effectiveness of color INTRODUCTION to the gilded design. This art of painted book- bindings spread rapidly, and reached its best period in the hands of the French, as well as of the Italians, during the middle of the sixteenth century. Its decay is seen in coarse designs and crude colors, and its final end in the stamped Lyonese bindings. The frailty of the painted decoration was one of the causes of its disuse ; and it is partly due to this, too, that painting or enameling on leather covers has never been seriously revived. Pared leathers gained the same color effect, and, not being so per- ishable, gradually supplanted the older method. A few examples of bindings inlaid with colored leathers are found in Italy and France during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; but it was in the hands of the English, in the seventeenth cen- tury, and of the French in the eighteenth, that mo- saic binding, in the strict sense of our definition, came into general use, and reached its highest de- gree of interest. The nineteenth century was marked everywhere by the frequent use of inlaid leathers. The painted bindings of Italy and the French eighteenth-century designs were copied in mosaics with an astonishing skill of execution, far beyond that displayed at any other time. The end of the century saw an impulse toward a new style of decoration, which should be individual. In the search for new effects, new mediums were used and the number of mosaic bindings increased to a great extent. ITALIAN BINDINGS Sixteenth Century The Saracenic motives, which played so important a part in early Venetian book decoration, and which were communicated from the printed page to the binding, show themselves most conspicuously in the graceful, leaf-like fleurons, at first tooled solid in gold, then azured and outlined, and in the interlaced bands or knots, which border the covers. The finest compositions of these forms are found on the books belonging to the collections of Jean Grolier de Servieres, Vicomte d'Aguisy, bibliophile and treasurer of France under Francis I, and of Thomas Maioli, of whom almost nothing is known and their names have come to be descriptive of the best work of this style. Grolier's bindings vary considerably in the amount of design used on them but they are generally simple, not departing far from the designs found on the early Aldus books. The bands are interlaced in straight lines; the fleurons are small and often combined in patterns by themselves. Maioli's books are treated more lavishly, and possibly with less delicacy; the fleurons are often hollow or azured, and combined with curved gold lines to form arabesques, which are interlaced with the bands. Frequent use is also made of the cartouche. A CATALOGUE OF Color is found on these bindings, and occasionally inlaid leathers. 1 ZANCHI, ANTONIO DE, printer. Missale Romanum. Venice, 1502 2 CATULLUS, TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS. [Opera.] 1515 3 OVIDIUS NASO, PUBLIUS. Opera omnia. " 1534 4 MATTHIOLI, PIETRO ANDREA. Commentarii In Sex Libros. " 1554 Seventeenth Century 5 TETIUS. ^Edes Barberinae. Rome, 1642 Eighteenth Century 6 Officium Beatae Mariae Vir- ginis. Venice, 1800 FRENCH BINDINGS Sixteenth Century This, the most interesting period in the history of French gold-tooled bindings, offers few examples of the art of mosaic- work. Italian styles were copied 8 MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS in book-decoration as in all the arts; but it was especially the era of Nicolas and Clovis Eve, with whose names are associated the use of the seme and fanfare, two styles of decoration more largely copied by later binders than any others except the Italian work distinguished by the names of Grolier and Maioli. Seme is used in heraldry to describe a field sown with a powder of small bearings, equally distant from each other. The adoption of this heraldic motive marks an important addition to the stock of bookbinding designs. The fanfare style is evolved out of the Italian interlaced bands. It consists of irregularly shaped compartments made by geometrically interlaced bands, filled, more or less, with branches of oak, laurel, palm and other figures. 7 GERING, ULRIC, and REMBOLD, BER- THOLD, printers. Book of Hours. Paris, 1498 8 ESTIENNE, HENRI, printer. Libri Moysi quinque. " 1541 9 Manuscript. " 1543 10 TOURNES, JAN DE, printer. La Sainte Bible. Lyons, 1554 n ARIOSTO, LUDOVICO. Orlando Furioso. " 1556 12 JUNTE, JACQUES DE, printer. Brevarium Romanum. " 1556 9 A CATALOGUE OF 13 Coustumes Des Pays Et Bailliage Du Grand Perche. Paris, 1558 14 GUICCIARDINI, FRANCESCO. La Historia di Italia. Florence, 1561 15 CESAR, CAIUS JULIUS. I Commentari. Venice, 1575 1 6 CASTIGLIONE, BALDASSARE. La Parfait Courtisan. Lyons, 1580 Seventeenth Century LE GASCON Between the years 1625 and 1665, a large num- ber of books were executed, the ornament of which is based upon the fanfares of the Eves, but with certain peculiarities which produced the effect of an individual style. This style is called by the name of Le Gascon, a binder whose personal history has been a matter of much speculation, but without very definite results. An imitator or rival, Florimond Badier, worked in the style called Le Gascon, and it was copied by all the binders of the period. The style of Le Gascon is, in general, as follows : a geometrical pattern of straight and curved, inter- laced bands, forming panels which are ornamented with small dotted figures in varying degrees of elaborateness, from a rather thin geometrical de- sign, made with small tools, to a filigree covering 10 MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS the whole space. The use of the broken or dotted line instead of a continuous line is its chief dis- tinction. Many of these bindings have the panels between the bands inlaid with colored moroccos, but few have the bands themselves inlaid. They are often clumsy and careless in workmanship, and are chiefly interesting as showing a desire, on the part of the binders, to produce variety. Their colors have been softened and toned down with time and handling until they produce an excellent effect, hard to attain in modern work. Badier is thought to have been the first to make considerable use of the doublure. Since his time the insides of the boards have been doubled or cov- ered with leather, thereby affording a larger oppor- tunity for decoration. 17 [QUESNEL, PASQUIER.] Le Jour Evangelique. Paris, 1700 1 8 METTAYER, IAMET, printer. Le Pseaultier De David. " 1586 Eighteenth Century During the eighteenth century the taste for mosaic bindings reached its height. In the hands of such binders as Antoine-Michel Padeloup, Louis Dou- ii A CATALOGUE OF ceur, Pierre-Paul Dubuisson, Pierre- Antoine La- ferte", Jacques- Antoine Derome, his son Nicolas- Denis, and Pierre Vente, and under the influence of the Eastern works of art, now inundating Europe, and of the taste of the time for the Rococo, mosaic bookbinding entered upon a new era. New mo- tives and new materials were introduced, and it might almost be said that a new style was created. Hitherto the decoration of book-covers had been arranged according to certain simple geomet- rical rules ; and variety and beauty of design had depended more upon a variation of the arrange- ment than upon the number of the motives used. Now, the most radical change was introduced in the departure from these rules of symmetry and balance. To question whether this style is a good one would be as fruitless as to quarrel about the value of the style called Louis Quatorze, its parent in architecture. With one or two exceptions, the workmanship of the binders of the period was poor. It is not easy to distinguish between the work of different binders; for they copied each other's designs and used the same tools ; and, to add to the confusion, the design of a binder, following an old custom, was signed by the workman who gilded it. Amidst a vast quantity of inferior work, some few bindings stand out in bold relief. It is customary to as- cribe these to the best-known masters of the style. 12 MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS PADELOUP The most important name in the period, if not in the history, of French mosaic bindings is Antoine. Michel Padeloup, commonly called Padeloup le jeune. He was born in Paris in 1685, of a family of binders of the same name, whose activities ex- tended over the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- ries. In his own day he achieved a high reputation : besides his appointments as " Relieur ordinaire du Roy de Portugal " and " Relieur ordinaire du Roy," he worked for Count Hoym, Madame de Pompadour, and other celebrated collectors. He died in 1758. His gold-tooled bindings in the style of Louis Quatorze and his celebrated dentelle borders (a form of decoration first used by Boyet on the doublure of his books, but used by Padeloup on the covers) place him among the celebrated of his craft. He was, moreover, almost the first to employ small pieces of colored leather in a composition that may really be called a mosaic. Bindings before his time were inlaid to give greater effectiveness to the tooled pattern, to accent or strengthen the design ; but Padeloup made de- signs in color by means of small pieces of morocco, the gilding of which was an accessory or finish. He may be called the father of modern mosaic binding. Mosaic bindings of the period, and called by his name, are of two kinds : compartment bindings and Chinese bindings. The compartment bindings are A CATALOGUE OF covered with a diaper of one or two small geomet- rical figures, usually thought to have had their origin in the semis of wreaths of the Eve bindings, but more likely inspired by that same Saracenic art which gave Aldus Manutius \i\sfleurons. The bril- liant little " repeats," in several colors, lightened with gold dots, and outlined with gold, may very well have been copied from similar patterns, painted in the margins of Arabian or Persian manuscripts. One of the earliest examples of compartment bind- ings is on a copy of "Daphne and Chloe," of 1715, and is usually ascribed to Nicolas Padeloup. Whether Antoine-Michel was the first to employ this motive or not, he made it his own, and it has come to be associated with his name; and if we cannot claim for him the honor of its invention, he is entitled to our admiration for his appreciation and adoption of so excellent a form of book-cover decoration. If many of the bindings of this genre, made during this century, which are ascribed to Padeloup, are inferior in workmanship to the copies of them made by Trautz, they have a charm and vigor which Trautz's work, or the work of any of the copyists of the middle nineteenth century, does not possess. It is uncertain when Chinese works of art were first introduced into France, but the craze for East- ern porcelain, lacquers, and stuffs raged during the second half of the seventeenth century and culmi- nated in the beginning of the eighteenth. All of 14 MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS the French industries were affected by it, to a greater or less extent, and among them the craft of bookbinding. Padeloup lived at the time when the craze for the Chinese was approaching its cli- max; and, while the earlier examples never go to such lengths of" chinoiserie " as do those of Lemon- nier, who came later, the influence of this art was strong upon him, and it may have been he who brought into French bookbinding the new motive which we call Chinese. These bindings consist, usually, of large pieces of morocco having, both in their application to the boards and in their tooling, the effect of applique work. They sometimes have other materials, like silk or vellum, combined with the morocco, usually in the form of a painted medallion, surrounded by a frame. It is a point worthy of notice that a man who succeeded so well in composing small and in- tricate designs should also have had the versatility to employ the large and free manner of this style. It is customary to dismiss the mosaic work of Padeloup, and especially the Chinese bindings, rather abruptly as poor in composition and below the level of his other work. It may, however, be said, remembering that almost all French binders have been copyists and not artists, that, within the limits of the styles which influenced him, his work shows more individuality and striving for artistic effect than does the work of any French binder until Michel. 3 15 A CATALOGUE OF STYLE OF PADELOUP 19 LONGUS. Les Amours Pastorales De Daphnis Et Chloe". Paris, 1718 20 Offices Ou Pratiques De De- votion en Fransois. " 1707 21 ROUSSELET, JEAN PlERRE, Cdl- ligrapher. Prieres De La Messe. Man- uscript. " 1725 22 Heures Nouvelles. " 1761 23 Heures Presentees A Ma- dame La Dauphine. " [n. d.] 24 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Saint. Homelies. " 1689 25 MARTIALIS, M. V. Epigrammaton. Sedan, 1624 26 Heures Presenters A Ma- dame La Dauphine. Paris, [n. d.] 27 [CAVEIRAC, JEAN Novi DE.] Nouvel Appel. Brussels, 1762 DEROME Nicholas Denis Derome, called le Jeune, also be- longed to a large family of binders; no less than eighteen being mentioned by Thoinan. His father, 16 MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS Jacques-Antoine Derome (i696(?)-i76o), was dis- tinguished for his mosaic bindings ; but it was the son, who, with Padeloup, gave to this form of orna- mentation the distinction which it had not known before. The younger Derome's work was not indi- vidual ; he appears to have followed closely in the style of Padeloup, and to such an extent that it has even been inferred that he may have bought the tools of Padeloup, upon their sale, after the latter's death. It may, perhaps, be justly said, that he perfected the motives employed by Padeloup and his school, in the same way, but to a far less extent, that he perfected the dentelle border, which is now called by his name. He was born in 1731, was made Master in 1761, and guard of his guild in 1773. He died about 1788. STYLE OF DEROME 28 SANDERS, NICHOLAS. Les Trois Livres. Rome, 1587 DUBUISSON, PIERRE-PAUL ( -1762) 29 Almanach Royal. Paris, 1757 JUBERT, JEAN-PIERRE 30 L'Ordinaire De La Messe. , Paris, 1733 31 [DUFLOS.] L' Education De Henri IV. " 1790 17 A CATALOGUE OF LEMONNIER or MONNIER 32 De Limitation De Jesus-Christ. Paris, 1690 33 CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS. De Amicitia. " 1749 BISIAUX, PIERRE-JOSEPH 34 ANACREON. Odaria. Parma, [1784] UNKNOWN BINDER 35 [TREUVE, SIMON-MICHEL, Abbe".] Instruction Sur Les Dispositions qu'on doit apporter Aux Sac- remens. Paris, 1709 Nineteenth Century The binders of this century may be divided into three groups, according to the distinct styles of their work, which falls into three periods, the early, middle, and end of the century. Early. For some time previous to 1800, several circumstances were at work, tending toward the temporary upsetting of the established order of the bookbinding craft. In 1776, Turgot, in his endeavor to secure liberty of trade, attempted to 18 MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS abolish the city guilds, and with them the guild of the bookbinders. His efforts were unsuccessful, but the result was accomplished by the Revolution in 1791; and the fraternity of S. Jean Latran, founded under Charles VI in 1401, and more in- strumental than anything else in perfecting the art so essentially French, came to an end. The Revo- lution, which burned all books bearing royal or aristocratic coats-of-arms, which forbade the use of all symbols of royalty, even in gilders' tools, and which begrudged the use in books of leather needed for soldiers' boots, could not be expected to look with favor upon a craft, the luxurious wares of which were patronized chiefly by the higher classes. With returning prosperity, after the Revolution, a new style in decoration was necessary to match the new order of things. The classic reigned every- where. " From the chief of the state to the chif- fonnier in the street, every one tried to believe, or to encourage the belief, that the Empire of France was the legitimate successor or a reproduction of that of Rome, and all things which were neither real nor essential were made to conform to that delu- sion." Roman friezes, scrolls, eagles, and other symbols appeared in all directions. The ex-mem- bers of the Guild of S. Jean were not slow to adopt motives pleasing to their new patrons; and the fleurs-de-lis, Le Gascon tools, and Padeloup motives vanished entirely. A CATALOGUE OF The Roman style, it must be admitted, though often vulgar and heavy, is not ill adapted to the decoration of the rectangular surfaces of book- covers. In the hands of some of the early binders it was used with skill and effectiveness ; but, as a whole, the genre, like the passion that inspired it, was too violent to last long. Mosaic bindings, made by hand, are few in number. Toward the end of the period, bindings called by the French "a la cathedrale," with colored leathers applied with stamps, had quite a vogue, especially on the works of the school of writers called the Romanticists. If French binding lost a strict mentor when the Guild of S. Jean was abolished, it gained as sure an encouragement to excellence, and a more liberal friend, in an institution, the direct outcome of the Revolution, called the Expositions de rindustrie, which, beginning in 1798, have been held at inter- vals ever since. There were no examples of the binder's art in the first Exposition, but a list of the awards of the judges of these Assises industrielles since then would make an outline of the history of bookbinding. The important names of the period are the Boze*- rians, Joseph Thouvenin, Simier, Purgold, and Lessee. Bozerian, the younger, was publisher and binder, with more detractors than admirers ; and this be- cause he, when all was chaos, introduced into 20 MOSAIC BOOKBINDINGS France the style of English binders, and because he died rich. Paul Lacroix said of him that he produced at one and the same time gilding, tabis, and bad taste, forgetting that the supply was in response to a demand, else M. Boz6rian would not have had money to leave behind him. Simier, Thouvenin, and Purgold worked in much the same style. They changed it from time to time, with the versatility of the government itself, to suit the taste of republic, consulate, or empire. They used poor leather, and they and their followers af- fected the stamp and other labor-saving devices, which use was a sign of the times and showed a progressive spirit highly appreciated. FONTAINE, L. 36 BOILEAU DESPREAUX, NICOLAS. CEuvres Poetiques. Paris, 1825 SIMIER 37 CESAR, CAIUS JULIUS. [Commentarii.] Amsterdam, 1635 38 POURCHET, MICHEL. Chansons. Paris, 1831 SUSSE 39 Album. 21 A CATALOGUE OF THOUVENIN, JOSEPH (1790-1834) 40 DUMAS, ALEXANDRE. Henri III Et Sa Cour. Paris, 1829 VOGEL 41 BERNIS, F. J. DE P. DE, Cardinal. QEuvres. Paris, 1825 UNKNOWN BINDER 42 Album. 43 BERANGER, P. J. DE. Chansons. Paris, 1829 Middle. After the classicism came a reaction, which took the form of a return to the old motives. All of the binders of the period, many of them trained in the ateliers of the Empire or even earlier, show this preference for tested styles. The major- ity of the designs used now, and this is especially true of mosaic bindings, are either copies, or, at best, copied after the bindings of the sixteenth or eighteenth centuries. The whole period might be called a period of the copyist. But, if there is a lack of originality, it is by some excused on account of the excellence of the work- manship, and especially indings THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY