In France, the Romantic Movement was established by 1820. Book related art forms, i.e., typography, illustration and bookbinding, were part of this vast artistic realm. Bookbinders and gilders used beautiful materials and newly engraved tools, reflecting the contemporary artistic style. The collections of the Bibliotheca Wittockiana include more than 200 works bound in France between 1820 and 1855. The majority of these luxury bindings, mostly of which are signed, were realized in well-known Parisian workshops as well as in quite unknown provincial workshops. This volume contains the reproductions of 210 signed bindings and their descriptions, reproductions of all the bookbinders tikets, 25 colour illustrations, a dictionary of 103 workshops, and several indexes. Because of the information he adds to already known, badly, or completely unknown binders, Paul Culot's publication is the indispensable supplement to the works by Ramsden and Fléty.

Volume editor: Colin Clair