Oeuvres de Rousseau
London: , 1781. Item #00046
An Elegant Contemporary Binding Attributed to Derôme le Jeune
With His Celebrated Dentelles à l'Oiseau
ROUSSEAU, Jean-Baptiste. [DEROME, Nicholas Denis aka Le Jeune, binder; attributed to]. Œuvres de Rousseau. Nouvelle édition. London, 1781.
Two twelvemo volumes (4 5/8 x 2 13/16 inches; 118 x 72 mm.). Engraved portrait frontispiece by Delvaux in Volume I.
Contents: Volume I, “Odes sacrées,” “Odes, Liv. II-IV,” and “Cantates allégoriques.” Volume II, “Epitres, Liv. I-II,” “Allégories, Liv. I-II,” “Epigrammes, Liv. I-IV,” and “Poésies diverses.”
Contemporary full crimson morocco, attributed to Nicolas-Denis Derôme ("Derôme le Jeune"), the second volume retaining the celebrated dentelles à l'oiseau ("bird dentelle") that has become the binder's unmistakable hallmark.
Covers bordered with triple gilt fillets, smooth spines richly gilt in compartments with two olive-green morocco lettering labels, board edges gilt, gilt turn-ins, blue endpapers, all edges gilt. An exceptionally fresh and attractive eighteenth-century binding, with only the slightest traces of wear. A beautiful survival.
Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (1671-1741), the foremost French lyric poet of the generation between Racine and André Chénier, achieved lasting fame through his odes, cantatas, epistles, and epigrams. Although celebrated during his lifetime, his career was marred by a notorious literary scandal that resulted in his condemnation to perpetual exile in 1712. He spent the remainder of his life under the patronage of Prince Eugene and other distinguished admirers, publishing editions of his poetry abroad that secured his literary reputation despite his absence from France.
The lasting importance of this set, however, lies in its magnificent binding. Nicolas-Denis Derôme (1731-1790), universally known as Derôme le Jeune, ranks among the supreme French binders of the eighteenth century. His bindings are admired for their extraordinary elegance, refinement, and technical perfection, qualities that place him alongside Padeloup and Dubuisson at the summit of French decorative bookbinding.
Derôme's most celebrated innovation was the introduction of the dentelles à l'oiseau, an exquisitely composed border incorporating tiny birds with outstretched wings among delicately engraved floral and ornamental tools. These borders, created from carefully combined individual stamps rather than repetitive rolls, achieved a richness and variety previously unknown in French binding design and remain instantly recognizable to collectors today. It is this distinctive decorative vocabulary that permits the present binding to be confidently attributed to Derôme's workshop. Marius Michel regarded these celebrated dentelles as Derôme's greatest achievement, praising the originality and grace that transformed eighteenth-century French bookbinding into an art of the highest order.
An unusually well-preserved example of one of the finest decorative bindings of the French eighteenth century, combining an attractive edition of Rousseau's poetry with a binding worthy of one of Paris's greatest masters.
Price: $1,750.00