BINDING: GRUEL, LEON.

Paroissien Elzevir Rite Romain. Paris: Gruel Engelmann, 1870.

Paroissien Elzevir Rite Romain. Paris: Gruel Engelmann, 1870.
8vo (158 x 77 mm). Numerous wood-engraved headers and initials. Crimson morocco, elaborately gilt-bordered, with crowned monogram to spine, edges gauffered with the text, "Plus Que Jamais Argenteau," silvered metal clasps in monogram form, gilt dentelles, watered silk endpapers. Light wear, minor browning.

Leon Gruel (1840-1923) was a poet and bookbinder, the grandson of Isadore Desforges, whose bookbinding and publishing business he inherited through his mother, in partnership with his half-brother Edmund Engelmann. Running the binding shop, Gruel sought to imitate the bookbinding artistry of years gone by. In this case, a printed Book of Hours is showcased within a delicately ornate binding that bears monograms and the motto of a member of the aristocratic de Mercy-Argenteau family.