Juicy tidbits or essential information?
Tēs Kainēs Diathēkēs hapanta. = Novum Testamentum. Ex bibliotheca regia. Lutetiae: Ex officinia Roberti Stephani, 1549. In-16. OTM: Band 2 E 10.
The covering material on Dutch bookbindings made in the first half of the 17th century was generally still very much influenced by the 16th century, with a preferance for sparsely decorated parchment. At the same time special bindings presented to dignitaries, mostly royal and mostly foreign, would be bound in velvet or gold brocade (Fontaine Verwey 1980).
It wasn’t until the second half of the 17th century that the French partiality for gold-tooled morocco bindings took hold in The Netherlands, the bindings by the Amsterdam bookbinder Albert Magnus (1642-1689) are illustrative for this new trend. They are superb works of craftmanship, clearly inspired by the French style, bound in morocco and decorated with an intricate design of small gold tools. Band 2 E 10 also has these characteristics, so could it be a Magnus-binding? Fontaine Verwey included it in the 1967 catalogue of bookbindings by Albert Magnus, presumably due to the similarity in style, only to definitively state that ‘There is no reason to attribute these bindings to Magnus’, with which he refers not only to Band 2 E 10, but also to a binding with an identical bird and vine roll on a bible printed in Amsterdam in 1662, described in Hobson 1929. In short, Band 2 E 10 is a 17th century, Dutch made, French style binding, not by Magnus but by one of his contempories.
Above: bird roll on Band 2 E 10. Below: bird roll in Hobson 1929, p. 167 no.4
The introduction above could be classified as essential information on this bookbinding, but how about further information on former owners? Information that has nothing to do with the binding itself or with collecting habits. The story below about Ann Beach, should it be labelled as irrelevant? Fun to know but not pertinent?
Juicy tidbits about the neighbours, that is how it sometimes feels when unearthing a semi-scandalous story about a former owner, this beautiful little binding has a tragic story connected to it. It was bought by the Reverend William Wainhouse in November 1763, a few months after he was ordained as priest in Oxford, whereupon he returned as Curate to the parish of St. Leonards Church in Keevil, where he had served before, and started a romance with Ann Beach, it is said attracted by the wealth of her family. The unfortunate young woman fell head over heels in love with Wainhouse, however her parents disagreed with her choice, and went so far as to keep her prisoner for two long years in an effort to keep the lovers from eloping.
As is often the case with forbidden fruit, the parents were not succesful in keeping Anne and William apart; the latter convinced Anne to marry him against the will of her parents and they tried to elope several times, eventually with succes. This backfired for Reverend William since he then found out that, in marrying him, Anne had also given up her right to a hefty inheritance. She died in January 1771, within three months of her marriage, it is said of consumption, but a broken heart as a result of the imprisonment by her parents, followed by her husband’s irritation at having missed out on Anne's inheritance, is also possible. She was only 21. Band 2 E 10 was there when the drama unfolded, possessed and presumably read by the undoubtedly reprehensible Reverend William Wainhouse. It will not surprise that the Reverend lived happily ever after, with a new wife.
A later owner of Band 2 E 10, Grace Whitney Hoff, was more fortunate than poor Anne Beach, she led a long and productive life.
The formidable Grace Whitney was born into one of the most important families of Detroit. After marrying John Jacob Hoff in 1900 they moved to France, where she applied herself to various philanthropic causes, among which women’s rights and the access of young women to education, particularly to university. To this end she founded the Foyer International des Etudiantes in 1926, it was opened two years later and still is a center of international education. Beside her humanitarian work Whitney Hoff was also celebrated for her collection of manuscripts, incunables, rare books and special bindings, of which she commisioned a catalogue be made for posterity (Boinet 1933). In the preface Boinet elaborates on the enormous collection of rare bindings. The 670 works are on a wide range of subjects and many bindings originate from prestigious binders and renowned libraries. The Boinet catalogue as well as Carolyn Patch’s biography of Whitney Hoff were both written well before her death in 1938, as a consequence unfortunately neither offer information about the dispersion of her library.
The dilemma
Should writing about bookbindings be limited to the evidence on the binding and the collecting habits of previous owners? Will the tragic story of Anne Beach linger when we think of this small red binding? Will Whitney Hoff’s in many ways imposing presence come to mind? Or will we remember this glorious little piece of craftmanship if not as a Magnus-binding, then in any case as a Dutch, 17th century, French style binding with, it seems unidentified bird-tooling and therefore an inspiration for further research? Foot 1979, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague and Keyser et al 1997 might be good places to start.
Left pastedown and flyleaf of Band 2 E 10
Provenance
D. Fr. Focani / François Focanus. Alderman in ’s-Hertogenbosch (Fontaine Verwey 1967) ownership dated 1682
Reverend William Wainhouse (1738-1797), ownership dated 1763
A.W. Crichton. Grandson of Arthur William Crichton (1833-1882) author of A Naturalist's Ramble to the Orcades published in 1866
Grace Whitney Hoff (1862-1938)
Marcel Dommergues. Antiquarian bookseller, Paris
Bought by the University of Amsterdam from Marcel Dommergues in 1962
Related bindings
From the library of Grace Whitney Hoff at the University of Amsterdam
OTM: Band 1 H 17
OTM: Band 2 E 10
Catalogues
Amédée Boinet (Léon Gruel ed.), Bibliothèque de Madame G. Whitney Hoff. Catalogue des manuscrits, incunables éditions rares, reliures anciennes et madernes. Paris: 1933. 2 Vols. Preface; no. 60.
Herman de la Fontaine Verwey, Bookbindings by Albert Magnus. Exhibition on the Occasion of the Iter Septentrionale. The Grolier Club. University Library Amsterdam. 30 May 1967. No. XVII.
Bibliography
OTM: Band 2 E 10 at the University of Amsterdam
Band 2 E 10 at bandenkast.blogspot.com
Bryan Berrett on Anne Beach in: Steeple Ashton. Round About Your Parish Great Hinton. March 2014. Retrieved 7-9-2021.
Herman de la Fontaine Verwey, ‘De binder Albert Magnus en de verzamelaars van zijn tijd.’ In: - - -, Uit de wereld van het boek. II. Drukkers, liefhebbers en piraten in de zeventiende eeuw. Amsterdam: Nico Israel, 1980. p. 147-169.
Mirjam M. Foot. The Henry Davis gift. A Collection of Bookbindings. Studies in the History of Bookbinding. 3 vols. London: The British Library, 1979. Vol. 1, p. 246.
Leon Gruel, Étude sur les Magnus, relieurs hollandais au XVIIe siècle. Paris: Henri Leclerc, 1922. Variation on the bird roll on frontispiece and illustrated between p. 14 and p. 15.
G.D. Hobson, Bindings in Cambridge Libraries. Cambridge: At the University Press, 1929. Compare with p. 167, similar bird roll on plate LXIX 4.
Léon-Honoré Labande, 'Bibliothèque de Mme G. Whitney Hoff. Catalogue des manuscrits, incunables, éditions rares, reliures anciennes et modernes, 1933.' Review in: Journal des savants. 1934. Volume 1, Issue 1, p. 43-45.
Marja (Marja Claudine) Keyser, Frans A. Janssen, and John A. Lane, The Gold-Tooled Bookbinding : Amsterdam Bookbinders from the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century. Amsterdam: s.n.], 1997.
T. de Marinis, 'La bibliothèque de Mme Whitney Hoff.' In: Philobiblion. Wien: 1934. VII Jahr, Heft 9, p. 407-8.
Carolyn Patch, La Vie Rayonnante et Humanitaire de Grace Whitney Hoff. Argenteuil: Coulouma, 1934. On the library of Grace Whitney Hoff: p. 107-108.
[English edition: Grace Whitney Hoff : the Story of an Abundant Life. Riverside Press, 1933.] Online at the Internet Archive.
Herman de la Fontaine Verwey, Bookbindings by Albert Magnus. Exhibition on the Occasion of the Iter Septentrionale. The Grolier Club. University Library Amsterdam. 30 May 1967. A confirmed Magnus binding.
[Pam van Holthe]