Stinky Old Books
1900s Heures Romaines | Stamped Taffin Master Binding
1900s Heures Romaines | Stamped Taffin Master Binding
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€1,100.00 EUR
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€1,100.00 EUR
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Heures Romaines printed by Alfred Mame and bound by The Taffin Bindery, Paris, France. Publication c. 1899-1900 (Text carries a movable feast liturgical calendar spanning 1900–1911).
The Taffin Bindery was a luxury bookbinding atelier in Paris that specialized in high-end, custom bindings for religious literature, poetry, and classical masterworks.
Taffin rose to prominence by embracing the organic lines of the Art Nouveau movement, and the workshop became famous for its technical mastery of sculpted leather and chiseled gauffered edge work.
Artisans would dampen high-grade calfskin, slice outlines with a blade, and repeatedly punch down the background to create distinct, three-dimensional relief designs. Dedicated master gilders (doreurs) used heated hand tools to stamp intricate patterns in gold-gilt page edges, creating gauffered patterns.
These techniques come together beautifully in this binding.
The two-tone Moroccan leather cover in black and brown is a prime example of Taffin's masterful use of leather sculpting to create a dimensional depiction of Mary. The silver-tone metal clasps have a swirling floral design on the front and back covers; all page edges are highly reflective gold-gilt with an organic gauffered pattern and a hidden marbled fore-edge.
The interior details are as impressive. The leather turn-ins are heavily tooled with gold dentelle work. Taffin's signature stamp sits at the bottom of the inside front turn-in.
The endpapers are a bold purple watered moiré silk, and the book block itself features intricate border illustrations on each page that alternate between Gothic tracery, Renaissance scrolling vines, floral motifs, weeping willows for mourning prayers, and angelic figures. This style of intricately detailed historical border design was known as an illustrated bordered edition and was done to mimic the appearance of a medieval illuminated manuscript.
French Language, 516 pages.
127 mm W x 158 mm H
Condition: Writing in the margins of page 1 from the previous owner, but the ink is quite faded and not very legible. Metal clasps are patinaed. Excellent, near-perfect condition and a museum-worthy piece. Comes with original protective cardboard box.
Please review all photos closely and reach out with any questions.
