OFFICE of the Church, in Latin and French... Dedicated to th - Lot 57

OFFICE of the Church, in Latin and French... Dedicated to the King. Paris, J. Camusat and P. Le Petit, 1651. In-12 (142 x 83 mm), contemporary binding in red morocco leather lined with the same material, covers entirely decorated with a fanfare design featuring compartments filled with small dotted iron motifs, corners of the covers adorned with pieces of green morocco leather, central panel decorated in the shape of a star on an olive morocco background; the lining features a large diamond-shaped motif consisting of four ornate garlands with dotted metalwork radiating from a central quatrefoil, the sides of which are adorned with two small heads facing opposite directions, the whole surmounted by large motifs forming spandrels at the four corners; edges chiseled, gilded, and painted with a floral arabesque design; a red shagreen case lined with green velvet (Devauchelle). One of the first editions (printing license dated April 1650) of this prayer book dedicated to the king, published by Jacques Dumont, featuring his own version of the psalms and his translation of the hymns into French verse. Title page and five hors-texte figures engraved on copper after Morin. Superb lined, mosaic-patterned, and richly decorated binding, with chiseled and painted edges, a unique masterpiece from the early period of the workshop known as the Caumartins.¹ The presence here on the lining of one of the “small-headed” dies may have led, in the past, to the attribution of certain bindings from this workshop—including ours—to the workshop of Florimond Badier. However, research by Émile Dacier² has shown that variations of this stamp were used by other workshops. As Esmerian³ has pointed out, the stamp used here—Dacier’s Type C—is the one that appears on bindings from the Caumartin workshop. A carefully adjusted and magnificently preserved copy, free of any restoration and in the finest condition. From the library of Baron Alexis de Rédé, with bookplate. The copy appeared in the “Très beaux livres anciens” auction, Paris, Drouot, November 21, 1960 (expert: Pierre Chrétien), lot no. 126. It is cited by Esmerian in his *Twelve Synoptic Tables on 17th-Century Bookbinding*, published as an appendix to his second auction, but remained unknown to Dacier. (1) So named by Raphaël Esmerian “for the wrong reason” (sic) that two of the three bindings he owned from this workshop bore the coat of arms of a member of the Caumartin family. The workshop had an initial period of activity around 1651–52, followed by a second from 1685 to 1701. In his *Douze tableaux synoptiques*, Esmerian lists six bindings from the Caumartin workshop’s first period, including ours—the only one lined, the only one with a mosaic design, and the only one with antiqued edges. (2) “Around Le Gascon and Florimond Badier,” in *Les Trésors des Bibliothèques de France*, vols. III and IV, 1930–1933. (3) See *Bibliothèque Raphaël Esmerian*, Part Two, Paris, 1972, p. 65.

Schätzpreis:€6,000

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