French Art of the Book, March 4-April 4, 1949

From “Bookbinding in France” by William Y. Fletcher:
“In early times the French bindings, like those of other countries, were the work of the goldsmith and the carver rather than that of the bookbinder as understood by us. Rare and beautiful volumes, the joint production of the scribe and the artist, were incased [sic] in befitting covers of the precious metals, enamel, or ivory, which were often enriched with gems or crystals. They formed part of the treasures of a king, a church, or a monastery. Later on, when princes and nobles began to take an interest in literature and the fine arts as well as in the profession of arms, manuscripts became more common, and these costly bindings were to a very great extent superseded by those of cloth of gold, velvet, and satin ; leather being employed for books of lesser value. With the invention of printing another change took place: books were produced in such large numbers that it became necessary to find less expensive materials for their covers, and leather of various kinds, more or less decorated with blind stamped ornamental work, came into general use. Many of these impressed leather bindings are of great beauty; those of Jehan Norins, Louis Bloc, Andre Boule, and R. Mace being especially good.

Although this craft was first practised in Italy, it was quickly imitated by the French binders, who soon excelled all others in the beauty and quality of their work ; and from the beginning of the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century the binder's art in France, fostered by the kings and queens and the great collectors of that country, reached and maintained a degree of excellence which has never been surpassed. The superiority of French binding may be also attributed to some extent to the influence of the Guild of St. Jean, a community which appears to have been established in Paris as early as the year 1401, and did not cease to exist until the time of the Revolution, when it was suppressed by a decree of the Assembly. It embraced and controlled all persons who took part in the production and sale of books, and included binders as well as scribes, illuminators, printers, and booksellers.”

From the preface of the exhibition catalog:
“At the present time, in France, typography is a vibrant art. Many of the books being exhibited here today are sufficient evidence of the imagination and the good taste of the designers of lettering and the men who set up the pages. The modern school of French engraving is known to be one of the most brilliant, the richest, and the most diversified that France has ever known. Modern bookcraft owers much to engravers and illustrators, even though only our painters and our sculptors are known abroad. During the last half-century, some of our greatest masters, following the example of Manet and Rodin, have come back to books. Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Vuillard, Maillol, whose works form the retrospective part of this exhibit, already seem to be the elders of the movement. There is no school of art, from the Nabis to the Cubists, from the Fauves to the Surrealists, which has not paid its tribute to bookcraft, and no school which has not, in return, found truer moves of expression from this new and exalting work of interpretation and decoration. More than one of our contemporaneous masters, when outlining with his brush the designs to be reproduced on the plates, or drawing the lettering and the scrolls, like the copyists and illuminators of old, is mindful to establish harmony between all parts of the book. No part of a volume may be slighted and the binding itself, which protects the book, may be a masterpiece in itself, a masterpiece of decoration and of technique. The greatest of our artists are indebted to our incomparable craftsmen– the French artisans– makers of hand made paper, typographers or pressers, binders or gilders.”


Sources:
California Palace of the Legion of Honor. 1949. The French Art of the Book. California Palace of the Legion of Honor.
Fletcher, William. 1894. “Bookbinding in France.” Edited by Hamerton. The Portfolio: Monographs on Artistic Subjects, no. 10 (October): 5–6. http://ia800207.us.archive.org/17/items/cu31924020571539/cu31924020571539.pdf