(IRONWORK)  BONTHOMME, Gabriel.  IIe, et IIIe. [cahiers] de Serrurerie Invente et Dessine par B...En

(IRONWORK)  BONTHOMME, Gabriel.  IIe, et IIIe. [cahiers] de Serrurerie Invente et Dessine par B...En 1777.                                   

Paris: Vent a Paris rue St. Jacques, 1777. Small oblong folio. Stab-bound without wraps, later protective box. 6 plus 6 plates.

Two decidedly rare cahiers of designs for ironwork by Gabriel Bonthomme (fl. 1775-1777) at the beginning of the reign of Louis XVI.   The only other known work by Bonthomme is a Livre de differents balcons (Paris, chez, 1775) with OCLC only locating one copy (in the Newberry Library, Chicago).  The elegant and inventive designs for ironwork for railings, ramps and balconies are rich in detail, as are the impressions themselves.  The complete work of three cahiers of six plates each is cited by D. Guilmard, Les Maitres Ornmaniste,  pages 262-263 (name given as Bonthomme instead of the alternate Bonhomme, with mention of the Collection Foule); and the Berlin Catalogue 1371 (listed under B...rather than Bonhomme or Bonthomme, mentioning all three cahiers, each with it own title).  Only the second and third cahiers are offered here, but OCLC located no copies of any of these cahiers.  Minor surface soiling at first plate in each cahier, very faint water stain at outer shelf corners of very wide margins.

 

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