Les Veritez et Excellences de Jesus-Christ Nostre Seigneur

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Les Veritez et Excellences de Jesus-Christ Nostre Seigneur

Printer Sébastien Huré

Binder LeGascon

Author François Bourgoing

Date1636

Dimensions9 5/8 x 7 1/2 in.

ClassificationBooks

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1972.83A-B

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Label TextLe Gascon is the name associated with a luxurious style of finishing bindings introduced in France in the early seventeenth century. The decoration includes pointillé, which is made up of interlaced bands, enclosing geometric compartments which are filled with innumerable gold dots and curves, creating lustrous elegance, as can be seen on these exquisite bindings. Despite scholarly speculation, there are no records to indicate just who the man "Le Gascon" may have been. One theory is that he worked as a bookbinder and gilder in the Éves bindery, from which he took the "fanfare style" (which became the basis for Le Gascon design), and perfected the Éve finishing tools so that Le Gascon bindings reached a pinnacle of delicacy and perfection. This beautiful set of bindings is also much prized because of who once owned them. The coat of arms boldly stapmed on the front and back of each volume belong to Cardinal Richelieu (Armand-Jean du Plessis, Duke de Richelieu, 1585-1642), the great French statesman and churchman during the reign of Marie de Medici, and after 1617, Louis XIII. Cardinal Richelieu is the acknowledged architect of France's greatness in the seventeenth century.