Hello everyone, I have lately developed a keen interest in 19th. Century French flutes. In particular, the Tulou Perfectionee flute by Jaques Nonon. Any information/pics on these interesting flutes would be greatly appreciated.
You’ve probably already seen this, but Rick Wilson has some information about them here.
I see them come up for sale from time to time on EBay. Nonon was not the only maker of this model of flute. There is a curious one for sale on eBay right now, labelled Keith, Prowse & Co, which is a London maker known for nice playing Rudall-style flutes. My guess is that this one came from a French maker and has just been relabelled. It is an interesting flute, but the asking price is highly inflated. I’ve seen them sell for significantly less than half this price.
Keith, Prowse & Co Toulou Perfectionee flute
Michael Lynn also has some nice pictures of a Perfectionee flute made by Jerome Thibouville-Lamy here.
The eBay Keith, Prowse one is an Eb (“Db”) flute.
Here’s a link to the photo album of the F Besson one I have - links to videos from the album blurb.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151476665524271.1073741825.605989270&type=1&l=aad7842e86
You’ve probably already seen this, but Rick Wilson has some information about them here.
Hello paddler, thank you or linking in Rick Wilson’s site, it makes for very interesting reading. I’d noticed that Keith, Prowse & Co. version on ebay, and thought it to be quite an unusual instrument. When comparing with Jem’s F. Besson, the keywork appears to be sturdier in construction-not as delicate as the French ones. I wonder if this may be a rare English built version of the Tulou system flute? I understand that Tulou was not a great fan of the Boehm system and thus came up with this design as a viable alternative.
Thanks for the information and photos Jem regarding the restoration of the Besson Tulou system. It looks and sounds like a very nice flute. 
How does it play and do you find the additional keys useful?
I noticed a really lovely example of this type of instrument by Nonon on David & Nina Shorey’s website here;
http://www.antiqueflutes.com/product.php?id=832
I believe that Nonon was the first to make the Flute Perfectionee when he went into partnership with Tulou. So was the flute in the link above made after the partnership between the two ended?
Such dating info as I could establish is in the album blurb, I think. Date range something like 1867-1919, IIRA, but no way to pinpoint it better. You can see/hear how it plays in the video, within my limitations, of course.
Claire Soubeyran from France, makes Tulou flutes, she probably has some information.
http://www.soubeyranflutes.com/fr/catalogue/tulou
I tried one a long time ago, and was pleasantly surprised by the F# (very often terribly flat on french flutes) and the general sound quality.
It was not a Tulou perfectionnée, though, just a simple system 6 keys.