Versions of the following have appeared online regularly, since 1992, as a feature of the FYI France ejournal, ISSN 1071-5916, which is distributed for free via email every month except August. Ejournal subscriptions may be obtained via email request to: kessler@well.sf.ca.us

Here this file is one of a number made available -- hopefully attractively, all in one place, and relevant to libraries and online digital information work in France and Europe -- as part of FYI France (sm)(tm), an online service to which anyone can subscribe for 12 months by postal mailing a check for US $45, payable to Jack Kessler, to PO Box 460668, San Francisco, California, USA 94146 (site licenses also are available): please write your email address on the front of your check. Please email suggestions for improvements to me at kessler@well.sf.ca.us
 

To the three classes being offered by Lyon's Institut d'Histoire du Livre on April 5-8, as reported here in November -- see fy031115.htm --

1) Introduction to analytical bibliography, by Neil Harris

2) Conservation and study of printed ephemera, by Michael Twyman

3) Type, lettering and calligraphy 1450-1830, by James Mosley

-- now has been added a fourth --

4) French gold-tooled bindings 1507-1967 : major workshops and collectors / Reliures françaises à décor doré 1507-1967, by Isabelle de Conihout et Pascal Ract-Madoux

"Since the publication in 1951 of Louis-Marie Michon's La reliure française -- an excellent but sparsely illustrated study which is now, inevitably, rather out of date -- there has been no serious study of French bookbinding as a whole.

"Isabelle de Conihout and Pascal Ract-Madoux aim in their course to fill this gap by offering a close examination of a large number of remarkable bindings from the period 1507-1967. A hundred or so original bindings (and several hundred photographic reproductions) will be presented and described. Although bindings are physically inseparable from the content which they enclose, they also have to be considered as autonomous artefacts. French deluxe bindings in particular have to be considered as works of art as much as historical objects.

"Areas covered by the course include:

• decorative arts and the evolution of design: one or several golden ages?
• dating bookbindings
• identifying the workshop which produced the binding: binders' tools, styles
• recognising bindings from the principal workshops
• why do deluxe bindings exist?
• why were they made?
• identifying the person for whom the binding was made
• ownership marks
• highly decorated bindings and more modestly decorated deluxe bindings
• identifying fakes and altered bindings
• research tools (bibliographies, catalogues, studies, etc.)

"The first three days of the course will finish with a presentation and discussion of a selection of Lyon City Library's most precious bookbindings. Participants will thus have an exceptional opportunity to discover at close quarters highly decorated bindings and discuss them with the tutors.

"The fourth and last day of the course will take place at the Bibliothèque Mazarine in Paris, and will be given over to an examination of this prestigious library's most precious bindings."

Detailed course outline

"The first three days are made up of four sessions: the first three sessions take place at the Ecole normale supérieure -- lettres et sciences humaines (ENS-LSH), the final session will take place at Lyon City Library.

• Day 1 (ENS-LSH, Lyon)
  16th century from the workshop of Louis XII to Duodo (1507-1600)

  Morning
  1. Chronological overview

  2. The collectors: François I, Henri II, Catherine de Médicis, Grolier, Mahieu, foreigne collectors (Mansfeld, Wotton, Fugger, etc.), Henri III, de Thou, Marguerite de Valois, Duodo, and several others.

  The workshops: Roffet, Relieur de Salel, Picard, Gommar Estienne, etc.

  Afternoon
  3. An important but unknown collector: Claude de Laubespine, 1545-1570. "Reliures funèbres" from Catherine de Médicis to Henri III.

  4. Examination of 16th-century bindings in the collections of Lyon City Library.

• Day 2 (ENS-LSH, Lyon)
  17th and 18th centuries

  Morning
  1. 17th century: chronological overview. The owners: Marie de Médicis, Habert de Montmor, Hélie du Fresnoy, etc. The case of Cureau. The workshops: Macé Ruette, Le Gascon, Maitre Doreur, Rocolet, Badier. Signed bindings.

  2. 18th century: chronological overview. The owners: de La Vieuville à La Vallière. The workshops: Boyet, Padeloup, Derome père, Dubuisson, Douceur, etc.

  Après-midi
  3. 18 century (cont'd). Mosaic bindings. Derome le Jeune.

  4. Examination of 17th and 18th-century bindings in the collections of Lyon City Library.

• Day 3 (ENS-LSH, Lyon)

  Morning
  1. 17th and 18th centuries (conclusion) : plates, special brasses. Endpapers 1610-1800.

  2. 19th and 20th centuries from Bozerian to P.-L. Martin.

  Afternoon
  3. Signed bindings, owners. marks, etc. Conclusions.

  4. Examination of bindings in the collections of Lyon City Library. 17th and 18th centuries: plates, special brasses, endpapers. 19th and 20th centuries.

• Day 4 (Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris)
  8h00, departure for Paris (two-hour voyage by TGV).

  11h00-18h00. Bibliothèque Mazarine: examination of 16th-20th century bindings.

Isabelle de Conihout and Pascal Ract-Madoux

• "Archivist-paleographer, Isabelle de Conihout worked for twelve years for the Bibliothèque nationale de France before being appointed senior librarian at the Bibliothèque Mazarine, where she has been in charge of the rare books department since 1998.

  "In addition to research on original editions and literary libraries (Philippe Desportes, Tristan l'Hermite), she is particularly interested in the history of collections (cabinets of curiosities, the collections of cardinal Mazarin) and the history of bookbinding (Les Reliures de Marin Cureau de la Chambre (1594-1669) et l'atelier « Rocolet », 1997; Madame de Pompadour bibliophile, 2002; Les reliures de Mazarin, conference "Mazarin, les lettres et les arts", 2002; La belle librairie évanouie de Nicolas de Villeroy, conference 'Henri III mécène', 2003).

• "Pascal Ract-Madoux is a bookseller and expert in the field of rare books, specialising in French bookbinding workshops and major collectors (Les reliures aux écussons de Charles Nodier, 1982; Essai de classement chronologique des étiquettes de Derome le Jeune, 1989; Les Derome, Jacques-Antoine, Charles, Nicolas et Nicolas-Denis : 100 reliures dont 9 en mosaïque, exhibition, Bibliothèque nationale, 1990; 'Exemplaires de choix et reliures remarquables de la Collection Dutuit', exhibition, 1991).

• "Isabelle de Conihout and Patrick Ract-Madoux were jointly responsible for bringing to light in 1993 a major 16th century collector of bookbindings, Claude III de Laubespine (1545-1570). Their discovery was announced in 2003 (conferences in London and Paris: 'Ni Grolier ni Mahieu, Laubespine') and will be the subject of a forthcoming exhibition.

  "They have co-authored « Veuves, pénitents et tombeaux : reliures françaises du XVIe siècle à motifs funèbres », conference 'Funérailles à la Renaissance', Droz, 2001, and Reliures françaises du XVIIè siècle, chefs-d'oeuvre du Musée Condé. Grands décors (1615-1665) et reliures pour les curieux (1690-1710), Somogy, 2002.

General Information:

• "Each course is taught by a leading international specialist in the field, with emphasis on the study of original documents.

• "The courses take place at the Ecole Normale Supérieure - Lettres et Sciences Humaines (Lyons) with sessions at the Lyons Printing Museum and the rare books collection of the City Library.

• "In order to facilitate access collections of original documents the number of participants is limited to twelve per class.

• "Fee: 450 euros (mid-day meals included)

• "Situated in the South-East of France between the Massif Central and the Alpes, Lyons is a major commercial and cultural centre. Capital of Gaul under the Roman Empire, major center of culture and trading during the Renaissance, strong industrial breeding ground in the nineteenth century, Lyon has become a large European metropolis, benefiting from the influences that have swept across its beautiful landscape. Now included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Lyon is categorized along with prestigious cities such as Venice, Prague, or Saint Petersburg.

• "Thanks to the Lyon Saint Exupéry airport, France's TGV high speed train lines and a network of major European motorways, Lyon and the entire Rhône area are at the center of a major european transport interchange. The region's air, rail and road connections provide rapid and direct transportation from major French and European cities such as Paris, Milan and Munich. Travel to and from Lyon is relatively effortless thanks to the region's Air France hub, three TGV stations and other transport facilities.

• "For further information please contact:

  Institut d'histoire du livre
  c/o Musée de l'imprimerie de Lyon
  13 rue de la Poulaillerie
  69002 Lyon

  email: ihl@enssib.fr

  W3: http://ihl.enssib.fr/siteihl.php?page=6&aflng=en

And, per remarks made in the previous, Lyon is a great place: particularly for anyone, French or foreign, who knows France simply as Paris plus the Côte d'Azur, having "visited Lyon" only en passant, racing through the autoroute routier tunnels of la Fourvière... So, visitez Lyon: the wine, the views of the Alps, the gastronomie, the history, the chocolate...

FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal                   ISSN 1071 - 5916

      *
      |           FYI France (sm)(tm) is a monthly electronic
      |           journal published since 1992 as a small-scale,
      |           personal experiment, in the creation of large- 
      |           scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler. 
     / \          Any material written by me which appears in 
    -----         FYI France may be copied and used by anyone for 
   //   \\        any good purpose, so long as, a) they give me 
  ---------       credit and show my email address, and, b) it 
 //       \\      isn't going to make them money: if it is going 
		  to make them money, they must get my permission 
in advance, and share some of the money which they get with me. 
Use of material written by others requires their permission. 
FYI France archives may be found at http://infolib.berkeley.edu 
(search fyifrance), or http://www.cru.fr/listes/biblio-fr@cru.fr/
(BIBLIO-FR archive), or http://listserv.uh.edu/archives/pacs-l.html
(PACS-L archive) or http://www.fyifrance.com . Suggestions, 
reactions, criticisms, praise, and poison-pen letters all will be 
gratefully received at kessler@well.sf.ca.us .

        	Copyright 1992- , by Jack Kessler, 
	all rights reserved except as indicated above.

From this point you can link / jump up to,

The FYI France Home Page ,

or you can link / jump over to:

or you can,

Return to the top of this page .