Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books
A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology

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retrospective binders

Bookbinders who imitate earlier styles of binding. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many celebrated and not so celebrated bookbinders imitated earlier styles, including Padeloup and Thouvenin, who were perhaps the most famous, as well as Cape, Trautz-Bauzonnet, Lortic, Chambolle-Duru, Taffin-Lefort and Gruel among the French, and Rivieré, Zaehnsdorf, Lewis, and Clark among the English.

In the 19th century, the demand of antiquarian book collectors for retrospective bindings was so great that there was a concerted effort on the part of bookbinders to copy earlier styles. Many of these binders produced outstanding designs of earlier years, ofttimes surpassing their models in the precision and brilliance of their tooling. The vogue for such lavish bindings continued well into the 20th century. (363 )




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