Bronze Bookbinding Stamp with the Arms of King Charles X (Imprimerie Royale).
France, Paris, circa. 1824–1830.
Materials and technique:
Engraved bronze matrix mounted on an original turned wooden handle, used for impressing the royal arms on leather bindings.
Measurements: 8.6 x 5 x 3.8cm.
Description
A bronze bookbinding stamp mounted on a well-preserved, dark-stained, turned wooden handle with ring mouldings. The tool was produced for the Imprimerie Royale (Royal Printing House) during the reign of King Charles X of France (1824–1830). The engraved face bears the crowned arms of France as used by the Bourbon monarch, designed to be impressed in blind or gilt tooling on the covers of official state publications. The handle shows natural age cracks consistent with prolonged use in the bindery, but remains structurally intact, offering a rare survival of a functional matrix as once employed in the royal workshops of the Imprimerie Royale.
Context and use
Since its foundation in 1640, the Imprimerie Royale maintained a tradition of binding presentation copies of royal publications in fine morocco, tooled with the reigning monarch’s arms. Under Charles X, this practice continued with bindings recorded in 1828 bearing his distinctive supralibros (see OHR 2498, no. 4). The present tool is representative of those used by the court’s professional finishers, applying the monarch’s arms centrally on large-format morocco bindings destined for royal libraries, diplomatic gifts, and prestigious state commissions.
Comparisons
• National Library of Russia, Livre de poste… pour l’an 1828 (Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1828), red morocco with the arms of Charles X (OHR pl. 2498, no. 4): https://expositions.nlr.ru/eng/ex_ofo/king_bindings/CharlesX_t.php
• Sotheby’s, Livres et Manuscrits, 15 December 2020, Lot 6: armorial morocco binding of Traitté des droits de la Reyne très-chrestienne (Paris, 1667): https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/livres-et-manuscrits/traitte-des-droits-de-la-reyne-tres-chrestienne
• Le Bibliomane Moderne, “Quelques in-folio aux armes de Louis XIV” (2021), discussion of royal supralibros and Imprimerie Royale armorial stamps: https://le-bibliomane.blogspot.com/2021/09/quelques-in-folio-aux-armes-de-louis.html
• National Library of Russia, Publications of the Royal Printing Works: overview of the Imprimerie Royale’s role and armorial bindings from Louis XIV to Charles X: https://expositions.nlr.ru/eng/ex_ofo/king_bindings/king_typography.php
Shipping
Worldwide shipping is included in all prices.
Matthew Holder does not accept any responsibility for import duty, this is to be paid by the buyer.
Shipping will usually be made within 3 days of payment using a tracked and signed for service of Matthew Holder's choosing unless agreed otherwise.
Returns
We want you to be happy with your purchase, we therefore offer a 14 day money back guarantee.
In this case the item must be returned prior to any refund, in the condition in which it was sent.
We will not be responsible for any shipping costs incurred in the return of such items.
All sales are subject to our standard terms and conditions.
