Foreign book bindings

The collection offers a survey of the main foreign binding styles. Gaps are filled where possible. It must be noted that some countries are of a greater interest to the KB than others. Of particular interest are Belgium, France, Great Britain and Germany. Other European countries are less important, but on a sliding scale. The importance is determinded by what is already in the collection and by the relevance of the art of book binding in the country concerned to that in the Netherlands. Here, too, some central points can be distinguished:

• Belgium bindings from Classicism and the early neo-styles
• French bindings from the period of Grolier and fanfare bindings, until 1620
• French bindings from the period of the Padeloup and Derome families
• French bindings from Classicism and the early neo-styles
• French bindings from the twentieth century
• English bindings from the Mearne period
• English bindings from the period of the Arts and Crafts Movement until the present
• German Renaissance bindings with blind stamping

Typical foreign binding

Synthetic binding with various engraved figures, partly sprayed with paint with gold dust and partly provided with a veneer of gold-plated copper, with gold-plated copper hinges. The piece was made by the Belgian art-book binder Edgard Claes, friar in the Kruisherenklooster (Crutched Friars' monastery) in Diest (Belgium), and at this moment one of the most important book binders in the world. Edgard Claes was member of the jury at an important competition held in the Netherlands in 1995, the results of which were exhibited in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. He was allowed to submit the binding shown above hors concours. Not merely the design is exceptional, but also the binding technique (on: Gott. A poem by Cromphout. Stuttgart, 1995. Shelf-number 1771 C 123).

Belgian bindings from Classicism and the early neo-styles

Book binding with on the outside red shagreen (leather with artificial pressing) and on the inside, on the "doublures", dark blue leather. These have been decorated with a broad lacework border, composed of various flourished stamps, imitations of seventeenth century stamps. In the centre of the covers is a crowned W. The binding was made in 1863 by the important Brussels bookbinder Pierre-Corneille Schavye (1796-1872), by order of the author and for the purpose of the donation of the enclosed book to the Dutch king Willem III (on: Auguste Parent, Du commerce de Belgique. Brussels, 1863. Shelf-number 142 C 30).

French bindings from the period of Grolier and fanfare bindings, until 1620

Book binding in black morocco with gold stamps and decorated with a lacquer-like paint in the colours red and white. The binding was made in Paris between 1550 and 1555 either by Claude de Picques or by Jean Picart. The binding is decorated on the covers and the flat spine in a pattern of transecting ribbons, built up entirely of loose lines, arches and stamps (on: Paulus Aemilius. De rebus gestis Francorum. Paris, 1548. Shelf-number 142 F 24).

French bindings from the period of the Padeloup and Derome families

Book binding in red morocco with gold stamping in lacework patterning with undulating inner contours. The binding was made in Paris, ca. 1760, by Nicolas Derome, quite possibly for a member of the Le Fèvre de la Faluère family. Derome was a member of a renowned binders' family, which, together with the equally renowned Padeloup family, set the trend in the field of book binding throughout the eighteenth century. Besides bindings with lacework patterning ("dentelle"), they also made bindings with multicoloured inlaid leather ("mosaïqué") in both symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns (on: Novvm Iesv Christi Testamentvm ... Parisiis, 1649. 2 vol. Shelf-number 146 F 65-66).

French bindings from Classicism and early neo-styles

Book binding from the early nineteenth century. Made by the Parisian binder Lefèvre for Louis Napoleon, king of Holland. Apart from the king's coat of arms, the binding has a simple framework on its covers, which accentuates the leather with a stripe pattern (called saffian). With its flat cover, it is a typical example of a classicist binding (on: J. Lablée. Oeuvres choisies. Paris, 1809. Shelf-number 141 E 16).

French bindings from the twentieth century

Binding in grey and bright green boxcalf and lizardskin, which has been applied to the leather partly raised and partly lowered. The binding was designed in 1995 by the most renowned French binder of this moment, Monique Mathieu, and executed by H. Joli-Lipinski. The vivid green and the lizardskin are a reference to the book's contents, a bestiary (on: Pierre Lecuire. Bestiaire. Paris, 1985. Shelf-number 1770 A 1).

English bindings from the Mearne period

Book binding in black morocco, with blind stamping and gold stamping. Made by an unknown London binder in 1695. In England, at the end of the so-called Restoration period, black ("sombre") bindings, using only blind stamps, were produced for periods of mourning, for example at Court. It is assumed that this "semi-sombre" binding was made for a period of semi-mourning (on: Edw. Pelling. A practical discourse. London, 1692. Shelf-number 144 C 24).

English bindings from the period of the Arts and Crafts movement until the present

Book binding in gilded brass, sprayed black and white as well as grey in changing hues. The artist is the English binder James Brockman (1987). Together with many other modern binders, Brockham prefers to use the contents of a book for designing its binding, but in such a way that it is not too obvious. For this binding, he has taken the construction principle of the letters as the basis for the design, thus matching it to the book's contents. The binding has a very special construction: each separate quire of the book is sewn onto a sort of large piano hinge, of which the covers form a part (on: Felice Feliciano. Alphabetum Romanum. Verona, 1960. Shelf-number 1771 A 116).

German Renaissance bindings with blind stamps

Book binding in natural coloured pigskin with blind stamping by means of roulettes and lines. The outer roulette shows depictions of the apostles, one of which with the letters IG. Because of this we know the binding was made by a binder whose initials were IG. The chosen materials implicate that the binder lived and worked in Germany, while the binding can be dated to the year 1576, which is stamped in soot under the centre piece. It was made for a collector with the initials SL, which are found above the centre piece (On: Joannes Calvin. Viginti prima Ezechielis Prophetae capita. Geneva 1565. Shelf-number 1788 E 104).