Picture of title page
Mysterious Signature in a French book from 1733
Hello all, I recently acquired an old French book with this signature inside.
I have had some colleagues look at the signature and they said it could be “Mauyare Maugari“
but I’m not sure if this is correct since that sounds almost Japanese. But interestingly enough, the title page has a Japanese seal on the title page.
Translating to a name: Watanabe Tei Isho; being, the Will of Tei Watanabe.
In Japanese: 渡邊亭遺書
Directly:
Watanabe Tei's posthumous letter (will).
I wonder if all these signatures are related?
anyway, I will attach more pictures below. Thank you all!
Reacties (4)
Dear Marko, at first sight the two names seem written by the same hand, I read them as Mulard Maugan, the first could also be read as Meilard. The seal looks like a stamp indicating it stems from a bequest to an institution by Watanabe Tei. Maybe staff at Leiden University Library can help you in tracing information about this donor.
Thank you Otto! Here is one other Ex-Libris that was on one of the sheets. This is a bit more difficult. Any idea what this says?
If only it were possible to remove the ink crossings, perhaps multispectral analysis can do this... I can read: "Ce livre appartien / au Sr. ....g.... / p.i......, 1735". Or is it 1736? For full decipherment I need more time.
I looked at the online database for collector marks created from the research by Frits Lugt, Les marques des collections de dessins & et d'estampes, https://www.marquesdecollections.fr/ . You can search here directly for owner marks in Japanese, but your mark is not listed in it.
Marko
zei op dinsdag 22 april 2025 - 15:39