Cautiously making a case

Agacio Guidacerio, Ad Paulum III. Pontificem maximum agathii guidacerii sacrae theologiae Regii professoris. Parisiis: Apud collegium italorum, 1537. In-8. OTM: Band 1 E 13.

The provenance

The manuscript ownership on the second flyleaf of Band 1 E 13 'Francisci Cecchinij Pisciensis’ is followed by a mysterious ‘I.V.N’, A certain Francesco Cecchini of Pescia, owned this book and inscribed his name in very neat, regular handwriting. But what do the initials I.V.N. stand for?

This, and some structural annotating inside the book, is the sum of the evidence of former owner and readership. Research online gives a possible match for the name, ‘CECCHINI Francesco (? 1750-Roma 1811) - Incisore e disegnatore, allievo di G. Volpato. Autore anche di un ritratto di Ennio Quirino Visconti’. An engraver and a student of the relatively well-known artist Giovanni Volpato (1735-1803). It is possible that this is our Cecchini, same name, birthplace unknown, maybe he was originally from Pescia?

Looking for clues on the binding

The binding has been rebacked with use of parts of the old spine and the pastedowns have been replaced, removing any earlier ownership traces, but the boards do tell us something about the person who commissioned this binding. They are decorated with a balanced design of floral cornerpieces, an elegant voluted centerpiece, some small, solid Aldine tools, and to top it off, gilt edges. We can conclude from the high quality leather and the simple, but delicate, expert gold tooling on the binding and the edges, that the first owner was an affluent client, but perhaps not very showy as there is no personal device or coat of arms involved. The tooling and the binding look French, this is confirmed when comparing Band 1 E 13 with other contemporary French bindings. There is a very similar binding among them, a photo (below) and description were sent in by another researcher who suggests it is a binding made by Étienne Roffet, which he bases on the comparison of some of the tools.

Similar binding by Étienne Roffet on a 1537 imprint.

The resemblance between the two bindings is striking, but on close inspection this is mainly due to the similarity of the shape of the centerpieces. The cornerpieces are very different and the tooling in general on Band 1 E 13 seems to be of a finer quality. Still, could Band 1 E 13 indeed have been made by Etienne Roffet, the first of the relieurs du roi, a title he received from François I who was King of France from 1515 until 1547? It is possible, but based on the tooling, our binding could also originate from the workshops of two other French binders both contemporaries of Roffet, the Fleur-de-lis binder or Jean Picard. Bindings made by these three binders are very similar in style and tooling. L.A. Miller (Virtual Bookbindings) suggests that, as the Fleur-de-lis binder's activity stops in 1540 and Picard was active from 1540 onwards, the latter may have been asked by Jean Grolier, influential bookcollector and client of all three binderies, to continue in the line of the Fleur-de-lis binder's work, maybe even with his tools. Interestingly Paul Culot believes the Fleur-de-lis binder to have been Etienne Roffet (Foot 2010, p. 51). The Biblothèque nationale de France confirms this possibility in a note on a binding attributed by them to the Fleur-de-lis binder.

‘L'attribution à l'atelier est faite d'après l'identification du matériel de fers utilisés pour la réalisation du décor et le style de celui-ci. Rappelons qu'il n'est pas exclu que cet atelier ne fasse qu'un avec celui d'Étienne Roffet, relieur du roi.’ reliures.bnf

Back to Band 1 E 13, with a focus on the floral cornerpieces. When searching for similar French bindings reliures.bnf.fr at the Bibliothèque nationale de France is the place to go. Another excellent source is the the hefty three volume The Henry Davis Gift with its descriptions and analysis by Mirjam Foot, each binding is illustrated and has an extensive bibliography. The larger part of the bindings attributed to the Fleur-de-lis binder, Étienne Roffet and Jean Picard on the BnF site and in Foot 2010 have solid floral cornerpieces. As for the bindings with the open-heart floral tool, BnF has around ten (of more than forty listed), they are evenly distributed as having been made by Roffet, Picart or the Fleur-de-lis binder. In Foot 2010 only five of a total of 84 French bindings made before 1550 have the open-heart cornerpieces. Only one of these five has a cornerpiece very similar to that on Band 1 E 13, no. 21, the binding is attributed by Foot 2010 to the Fleur-de-lis binder.

Above: cornerpiece on Band 1 E 13. Below: cornerpiece on Foot 2010 no. 21.

L. Bayfius, Annotationes in libri II de captivis. Paris: R. Stephanus, 1536. ‘A Paris binding by the Fleur-de-Lis binder, c. 1536.’ Foot 2010 no. 21.

To which binder can we cautiously attribute Band 1 E 13? Can we base this on one other binding with similar cornerpieces? We need a larger corpus. For now, based on the attribution of Foot 2010 no. 21 with its very similar cornerpieces, Fleur-de-lis binder it is, with the Culot/BnF thought on the Fleur-de-lis binder connection with Étienne Roffet in mind. To remain on the safe side, simply labelling Band 1 E 13 a Parisian binding would also do.

Caution remains

In a research area where bindings are mostly anonymous, unless they or the stamps are signed, which they almost never are, attributions are made and revised when ongoing research reveals new information. Binders shared or sold their tools and stamps, to be re-used by other binders. In addition to this, as Mirjam Foot writes in her introduction to Volume III of The Henry Davis Gift, attribution to French mid-sixteenth century binderies can also be problematic because a binding wasn’t always made by the same craftsman who tooled the decoration, the men could even be from different workshops. To sum it up, any binder-related conclusions should be handled with caution.

Provenance

Fleur-de-lis binder (active 1525-1540) or Étienne Roffet (first relieur du Roi, active 1533-1548) or Jean Picard (active 1540-1547)

Franciscus Cecchinij Pisciensis I.V.N.

University of Amsterdam. Bought from antiquarian bookseller B.H. Breslauer, New York for £300,-

Related bindings

Bindings by the Fleur-de-lis binder for Jean Grolier at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Arcadia del Sannazaro. Impresso in Vinegia, nelle case d'Aldo Romano, nel'anno MDXIIII nel mese di settembre. In-8. Call number. According to the BnF this book was bound for Jean Grolier by the Fleur-de-lis binder. For some reason the photo is pulled out of proportion but it does show that the style is very similar to Band 1 E 13, including floral open-heart cornerpieces.

Bindings by Jean Picard, also known as the Entrelac Binder, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Bindings by Étienne Roffet, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Virtual Bookbindings on the Fleur-de-lis binder.

Virtual Bookbindings on Jean Picard.

Virtual Bookbindings on Étienne Roffet.

A very similar binding on this site: Une reliure d'Etienne Roffet sur une édition de 1537.

Bibliography

OTM: Band 1 E 13 at the University of Amterdam

Binding description Band 1 E 13 at bandenkast.blogspot.com

Franceso Cecchini at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Paul Culot, et al, Bibliotheca Wittockiana. Gent: Ludion, 1996. Catalogue Musea Nostra. Similar cornerpieces on a binding attributed to Jean Picard: p. 29.

Mirjam M. Foot, The Henry Davis Gift. A Collection of Bookbindings. Volume III. A Catalogue of South-European Bindings. London/Delaware: The British Library/Oak Knoll Press, 2010. Introduction, on the attribution of French bindings: p. 7-9. Similar binding: No. 22.

Dorothy Miner, The History of Bookbinding 525-1950 A.D. Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1957. Catalogue. Nos 249 & 250: similar floral cornerpieces with open heart on a binding attributed to Étienne Roffet. Plate L.

Howard Nixon, Bookbindings from the Library of Jean Grolier. London: British Museum, 1965. Catalogue.

Virtual Bookbindings. The bindings in L.A. Miller’s in-depth comparison of the tools of the Fleur-de-lis binder, Étienne Roffet and Jean Picard can be found at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) and in Nixon 1965.

'Reliure d'un livre d'Etienne Roffet, édité à Lyon. Lettre verte 20 G’. French stamp from the series 'Objets d'Art Renaissance en France'. 2014.

[Pam van Holthe]

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