Prières

1651 · 2120951 — 1651. Paris: Francois Mazot. C. 1651-53. Small 4to. Contemporary French dark red morocco richly gilt covers elaborately tooled with pointille tools in an open fanfare design within pointille double fillet and floral roll tool borders spine gilt in compartments with raised bands gilt edges pink silk ties and place marker marbled endpapers; ff. 2 34 pp. 35-39 1 blank engraved throughout 77 full-page engravings by Colin and De Gheyn; bound without engraved title and privilege leaf; two very small holes near hinge of rear board hinges and extremities very expertly repaired; tiny hole to f. 33 repaired; eighteenth-century shelfmark to blank recto of dedication; nineteenth-century catalogue clipping pasted to front free endpaper; bookplates of Paul Grandsire to verso of front free endpaper and verso of rear free endpaper see below.One of the most splendid French seventeenth-century devotional books entirely engraved this copy in a superb fanfare binding with pointille tooling attributed to the legendary binder known as Le Gascon.The volume opens with a dedication letter from the printer Francois Mazot to Charles de l'Aubespine 1580-1653 Marquis de Chateauneuf ambassador and later Keeper of the Seals of France faced by a portrait of the dedicatee by the Dutch engraver Willem de Gheyn fl. 1650-1670. An engraved title-page by Jean Colin c. 1623-1701 follows introducing thirty-five illustrations depicting the order of the Mass the upper register depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ. On facing pages are accompanying prayers in French and Latin each flanked by full-length portraits of two saints and decorated with plants flowers and insects. The work concludes with four pages of litanies featuring female saints. Published between 1651 and 1653 Le tableau de la croix exists in several variants with some editions including further litanies and portraits of Jesus and the Virgin Mary as well as a selection of Psalms.The binding is an exquisite example of French pointille tooling a style characterized by intricate dotted lines and curves that gained popularity in France in the 1630s. This technique was employed by several master gilders the most famous of whom is known as Le Gascon a mysterious figure whose identity remains uncertain. Brunet notes that other copies of the same work are often found in handsomely decorated morocco and e.g. the copy at the BnF may have been bound by the same workshop as ours featuring similar if less elaborate pointille decoration and a seemingly identical border of small fleurs-de-lys; Ricardo Heredia's library sold by Drouot 22-30 May 1891 features six other works in bindings attributed to Le Gascon his copy of Tableau de la croix is described as 'red morocco spine tooled in gilt dentelle borders corners with fleur-de-lys tooling richly decorated aux petits fers and au pointille gilt edges Le Gascon' lot 1076.Provenance:1. Catalogue clipping from the 1879 Bachelin-Deflorenne Catalogue de livres rares et precieux provenant du cabinet d'un amateur lyonnais pasted to front free endpaper verso attributing the binding to Le Gascon 'Theologie' no. 2.2. With the bookplates of Paul Grandsire of Nogent Haute-Marne to endpapers. His extensive collection was sold at auction by Drouot 9-13 December 1930 Livres rares et precieux anciens et modernes composant la Bibliotheque de M. Paul Grandsire de Nogent-en-Bassigny.USTC 6056034; Brunet V col. 624 'one finds beautiful examples bound in morocco and richly gilt' trans.; Graesse VI.2 p. 4. hardcover