Études sur les Arts Décoratifs. La Reliure.

Caen, 1881. 12mo (180 x 118 mm). 2 unnumbered leaves + 94 pages in manuscript. 3/4 red morocco, marbled boards, title in gold on spine. Manuscript in a delicate hand in black ink with red accents.
A lovely manuscript in a legible hand that is a copy of an article on bookbinding by Charles Blanc on bookbinding that had been published in 'La Gazette des Beaux-Arts' in two instalments in October and November 1880. The manuscript is dated "Caen, 1881".

The manuscript is enhanced by several remarkable ornament drawn in ink: a title-frontispiece with a lovely decorative border a headband, a decorative letter and two tailpieces as well as a reproduction of a bookbinding executed for Grolier. The frontispiece is signed 'G. Le Vard d'après Le Potre'. This could be a drawing by Gustave Le Vard (1843-1919), president of the 'Société des antiquaires de Normandie' and the author of 'La Décoration des habitations particulièrement édifiées à Caen aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles'. The engraving is probably copied or inspired by an engraving of Jean Lepautre (1618-1682).

This is very likely the copy of Gustave Le Vard (1843-1919), Member of 'La Société française d'Archéologie' founded in Caen in 1834. Le Vard was a president of the 'Société des antiquaires de Normandie' and the librarian of the collection of Bernard Mancel (1798-1892), a collection that was donated to the town of Caen in 1872 and which is now one of the principal collections of the 'Musée des Beaux-Arts' in Caen.

Charles Blanc, the author of the original article was a well-known historian and art critic. He was the director of the Beaux-Arts from 1848 to 1852 and from 1870 to 1873, a member of the 'Académie des Beaux-arts' in 1868 and the chief editor of the 'Gazette des Beaux-Arts'. He is also the author of the important 'Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles depuis la Renaissance jusqu'à nos jours' (in 14 volumes) and of the 'Grammaire des arts du dessin' a work that has influenced Van Gogh in the choice of his colours. He was elected to the 'Académie française' in 1876 and nominated professor of esthetics and art history of the 'Collège de France' in 1878.

[c.f. Charles Blanc, "Études sur les arts décoratifs : la reliure" in 'Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1880, vol. XXII, pp. 181-195 (end at page 39 of the present manuscript) & pp. 185 -403].