13Ó
Book bind ing
to Dupuy, speaks of the binding of an Arabic manu script, which he h ad purchased there, adding by the way, ‘ que Le Gascon s’étudier a d’imiter la dorure.’ These are slight evidences ; but they are sufficient not only to prove his existence, but to show, also, that he was a binder, as well as a gilder of books, and had, a pparentl y, been made free of the Guild of St. Jean, before the year 1622. There is no authent ic examp le of his work ; but two books exist, which are trad ition ally said to have been bound by him. The first of these is the famous Guirlande de Julie, in the manu scrip t of Jarry , which bears the date 1641. Accord ing to a note written at the end of the seven teenth century, by M. de Gaignères, who at tha t time possessed the volume, it was bound by Le Gascon : it is now in th e possession of M. le duc d’Uzès. The bind ing of this book is of red morocco, with a doublu re of the same, which, like the exter ior of the boards, is enriched by a ‘s emi s’ of the letters I and L, th e initials of Julie Lucine, afterwards Madame de Montausier. There are, also, other books of hers, which are similarly bound, appar ently the work of the same binde r ; amongst which is a copy of Les Confessions de Sa int Augus tin, now in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, and reproduced by M. Bauchart, in Les Femmes Bibliophiles de France. A more rem arkable binding is that, also traditi onally ascribed to Le Gascon, of a volume of prayers, composed by Cather ine de Vivonne, Madam e de Rambouillet, the mother of Julie Lucine, which is,