Doublure (bookbinding) explained

Doublures are ornamental linings on the inside of a book. Doublures are protected from wear, compared to the outside of a book, and thus offer bookbinders scope for elaborate decoration.

The 15th-century Islamic doublures strongly influenced the doublures in Western Europe.[1]

The term doublure is of French origin. Tooled doublures are found in French bookbinding of the seventeenth century:[2] in particular, they are associated with the books of the Jansenist sect, which were extremely simple on the outside, while they had gilding on the doublure.[3] One of the bookbinders known for his Jansenist-style bindings was Luc-Antoine Boyet, binder to Louis XIV. The term Jansenist is also applied to bindings in this style of a much later date.[4]

The British bookbinder G.T. Bagguley patented a process for tooling in colours called the "Sutherland binding" which was principally employed on doublures.[5] Bagguley, who was librarian to the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, named the process after the duchess.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Thomson, Lawrence S. . Drake . Miriam . Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Binding. 1. 2nd. 2003. CRC Press . New York, USA. 0824720776 .
  2. Book: Greenfield, Jane . ABC of bookbinding: a unique glossary with over 700 illustrations for collectors and librarians . 2002 . Oak Knoll press The Plough press . 978-1-884718-41-0 . New Castle (Del.) Nottingham (GB) . 22.
  3. http://cyclopaedia.org/bookbinders/boyet1700.html French Decorative Bookbinding - Seventeenth Century
  4. http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/exhibition-reading-europe/detail.html?id=109758 Lorenzaccio
  5. The British Library has, for example, a copy of The Glittering Plain from Bagguley's bindery with vellum doublures.(C.69.h.9: BL Catalogue, British Library).