AND THE WATERMARKS OF LYON BACKTRACKING BRIQUET, LES FILIGRANES (1907) AND THE WATERMARKS OF LYON Ilaria Pastrolin University of Udine Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Charles-Moïse Briquet Geneva, 30th August 1839 – Geneva, 24th January 1918 Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

The three editions that matter: 1907, 1923, 1968 (Jubilee edition) Les Filigranes The three editions that matter: 1907, 1923, 1968 (Jubilee edition) 16.112 watermarks in primary sequence Approximately 30.000 secondary references Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Briquet was in Lyon approximately in 1887. Here is the first page concerning Lyon in his diary (Bibliothèque de Genève, Papiers Briquet 39). Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Lyon, Archives Municipales: 113 primary references My research Lyon, Archives Municipales: 113 primary references Lyon, Archives Départementales: 91 primary references February-September 2017. I sought out Briquet’s original watermarks and found 199 of them. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

ONE CASE STUDY 10 G 114 = G 41 in Briquet Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

History of the document Acts of the Chapter of the Church of Saint John in Lyon, 1531-1532, in the Archives départementales du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon. Date given in Briquet: 1531. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Saint John’s Cathedral in Vieux Lyon Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

« En 1859, lorsque le préfet Vaïsse décida à nouveau de s'installer à l'hôtel de ville, les archives retournèrent dans les combles [where they remained until 1890] ; archives départementales et archives communales y étaient réunies, puisque Vaïsse cumulait les fonctions de préfet et de maire de Lyon ». Item « Archive », in (4 N). l’Inventaire du fonds des bâtiments départementaux. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Archives départementales du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon. New building of the 2014. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Codicological and watermark description Unusually for a document in the Lyon archives, the manuscript contains a single pair of grape watermarks, i.e. Briquet 13158. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

The structure of the manuscript – in Folio format – is as follows: ff. [I, II] = 1 non-numbered sheet ff. [III, IX], 1 ff. [X, XI] ff. 2-49 ff. 50+51 ff. 52-99 ff. 100+101 ff. 102-111 Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

BRIQUET 13158 The twin watermarks are both placed in the left-hand side of the original moulds (i.e. in the right-hand side when the sheet is viewed from the mould side). They are distinguished as L and LL. L is present 28 times (45,9%) LL is present 33 times (54,1%) Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Technical Description of the Twin Moulds Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

  L LL Sheet dimensions (m) 0,58 x 0,41 Ratio between the sides 1,414 Position of the watermark on the sheet Left (MsR) Watermark type Grape (raisin) with the letters SB Percentage in the total number of sheets 45,9% 54,1% Difficulty in distinguishing the twins (1 to 10 scale) 1 Height (mm) 46 Width (mm) 28 25 Distance between the watermark and the chain line on its left 30 9 Distance between the watermark and the chain line on its right 33 Distance between the watermark and the bottom of the sheet 176 187 Distance between the watermark and the top of the sheet 191 180 Watermark on a supplementary chain line (if yes: distance between the other ones) No Distance between the chain lines (mm) 33-34 Number of chain lines in the sheet 16 Tranchefile Yes

Watermark distribution and analysis Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Archives du département du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon, (10 G 114) Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

How do we tell them apart? In both the stem of the bunch of grapes points left. L has drifted over the left chain line; LL has drifted the other way. LL has lost its outer left-hand grape; L is still intact. In L the grape pressing onto the letter B is small; in LL it is large. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Each line is a sheet of paper with the watermark in one half. The distribution of the twin watermarks in the manuscript appears in the following simple table. Each line is a sheet of paper with the watermark in one half. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

BRIQUET 13158 reproduces an L watermark BRIQUET 13158 reproduces an L watermark. He seems to have traced it from the mould side. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

In fact, the tracing in the Briquet archive at the Bibliothèque de Genève shows that he originally chose the felt side. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

On the tracing, he wrote in pencil the place, the date, the name of the archive and the shelf-mark of the document, and the sheet dimensions with the annotation “rogné”. He also traces the density of the wirelines (22 in 20 mm in my measurement). The tracing informs us also about other manuscripts in which Briquet found this watermark: after noting “G 41” (= 10 G 114), he added “G 42 1533/38, G 43 1538/40, G 44 1542/47, G 45 1548/50, G 48 1556”. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

In Les Filigranes, however, this information is synthesized as a “variante identique” and “Lyon 1533-56”. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Conclusions These watermarks come with all the prestige and authority of Briquet’s still unsurpassed repertory. Going back to the archive, however, both to his original tracing and to the document he traced in order to find the original twin watermarks, makes identification a much solider proposition. Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections

Twinship defines watermarks Vienna, 19th-20th October 2017 4th International Conference. Watermarks in Digital Collections