L'Annae Senecae Philosophi

16mo of (6) leaves, 609 and 221 pages, (3) leaves. Engraved title.
Red morocco, center of covers decorated with a quadrilobed medallion bearing the monogram and four corner pieces stamped in gilt, bordered by four sheaves of gilt dots within a frame of straight and curved gilt fillets with gilt-stamped fleurons at the corners, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt-tooled dotted fleurons, gilt fillet on board edges, inner gilt dentelle, all edges gilt. Binding contemporary with the period from the Macé Ruette workshop.

126 x 69 mm.

Seneca. L’Annae Senecae Philosophi. Opera omnia et M. Annaei Senecae Rhetoris quae extant.
Amsterdam, Apud Guili, Cecsium, 1628.

Copy ruled with the cipher ofH.-L. Habert de Montmort.

“Macé Ruette (1584-1644) began his apprenticeship as a bookbinder in 1598 with Dominique Salis. In 1606 he opened his own workshop; from 1629 to 1634 he was administrator of the Guild of Booksellers, Printers and Bookbinders. Upon the death of Clovis Eve in 1634, he received the title of ‘Bookbinder to the King’, a position which passed, upon his death in 1644, to his son Antoine. His activity seems to have ceased in 1638. He published a few volumes on piety (very few, in fact) and opened his own bookshop on rue Saint-Jean-de-Latran near the Fontaine Saint-Benoît.

Until 1620, the style of Macé Ruette’s bindings was limited to the conventional models of the period: ‘fanfares’, ‘diamonds and cornerpieces’, and ‘Duseuil-style borders’. It was a little after 1620 that the young Habert de Montmort (1600-1679) began a collection of Elzevirs, which he purchased and had bound by Ruette as they were published. This is easily verifiable, as according to the date of the book, certain changes in the decorative tools can be followed, while the style remained the same. I have been able to study thirty-five of these small volumes, with dates ranging from 1620 to 1634: from 1620 to 1630, the centerpiece on the inner frame is a small vase filled with flowers; after 1630, it is replaced by a larger sheaf tool. Changes also occurred in the inner roulettes: one model disappeared in 1629, replaced by a second which lasted until 1634, while a third appeared in 1633. Another stranger fact: the quality of the morocco leather also evolved: rough and of a dark-reddish color at the beginning, changing to a fine smooth grain and a more pleasant color after 1625-1626.

If I dwell so long on these small volumes and try to demonstrate the date of their bindings, it is because these mark the very first attempts at dotted tooling decoration. It is still a very timid attempt at the ‘sheaves’ decoration, a style that, in a more elaborate form, was soon to become predominant in bookbinding for fifty years.

Ruette's bindings are of very varied styles; in general, he excelled more in small formats than in folios, especially when he mixed solid tools, dotted tools, and sprigs in the latter!” (R. Esmerian).

Henri-Louis Habert, Seigneur de Montmort, counselor at the Parliament of Paris (1603-1679), was the friend of Mlle de Gournay and of Gassendi, who lived and died at his house and whose works he published in six folio volumes, preceded by a Latin preface. A friend and admirer of Descartes, he was an enlightened patron of science and letters. Montmort had his books covered in bindings attributed to Macé Ruette (1584-1638), ordinary bookbinder to the King.

Precious and beautiful copy identical to the six copies in the R. Esmérian Library.

Reference: Paris Palais Galliera, 8 December 1972, no. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13, each sold for an average of €1,000 forty-seven years ago.