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Description
Book of Hours, according to the use of Rome. Includes a calendar, pericopes of the Gospels, the Hours of the Virgin, Psalms, the Office of the Dead and additional prayers. ff. 1-12v: Full calendar in French alternating red and brown (the ink of the text), with major feasts in blue; 4 lines reserved at the top of each month, possibly for a miniature. 2. ff. 13-22: Pericopes of the Gospels; Oracio ad virginem mariam, Obsecro te &; O intemerata & orbis terrarum. Inclina mater misericordie &; f. 22v, ruled, but blank. ff. 23-24v: Pulcrerrime [sic] laudes marie, O filia dei patris. Mater ihesu christi, Amica spiritus sancti &[17 appellations of the Virgin]; Septem gaudia beate marie, Gaude virgo mater christi & Deus qui beatissimam et gloriosam virginem mariam in conceptu & 4. ff. 25-88: Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, with weekly variations of the psalms at matins set into the text before the lessons; suffrages of All Saints, and hours of the Cross and of the Holy Spirit worked in; Advent office begins on f. 82; 3 leaves missing before ff. 51, 62 and 77, containing the hours of the Cross at lauds, and the beginnings of sext and compline; f. 57 misbound, should follow f. 61; f. 87 should follow f. 82; f. 88v, ruled, but blank. 5. ff. 89-10v: Penitential psalms and litany, including Gatianus, Martin and Lidorius among the confessors, and Radegundis among the virgins. 6. ff. 105-143v: Office of the Dead, use of Rome. 7. ff. 143v-158: Prayers as follow: Ave domine ihesu christe verbum patris filius virginis & with versicles, responses and the prayer, Deus qui culpa offenderis &; septem versus beati bernardi, Illumina oculos meos & and the prayer, Deus qui ezechie regi &; de sancta trinitate, Adoro te deum patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum unam divinitatem &; suffrages of the Trinity, Michael, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, John the Evangelist, James, Christopher, Sebastian, Lawrence, Maurice, Gatianus, Martin, Lidorius, Fiacre, Anne, Mary Magdalene, Catherine of Alexandria, Barbara, Agnes, Margaret; Les sept oraisons saint gregoire, O domine ihesu christe adoro te in cruce pendentem &; Oraison pour les trespasses, Avete omnes anime fideles & with versicle, response and the prayer, Domine ihesu christe salus et liberatio &; f. 158v, ruled, and, added in a later hand, a series of 4 prayers, each beginning in a similar manner, Je te commande a dieu le pere tout puissant In Latin and French. Parchment, ff. ii (modern parchment) + 158 + ii (modern parchment). Quire structure difficult to determine as many leaves are singletons joined to "conjunct" leaves by tabs; collation often relies upon modern binders numbering of the quires. 1-2⁶ 3⁴ 4⁶(through f. 22) 5-6⁴ 7-8⁶ 9⁴ 10 (ff. 47-53, but lacking 1 leaf before f. 51) 11 (ff. 54-63, but lacking 1 leaf before f. 62, and misbound: f. 57 should follow f. 61) 12 (ff. 64-72) 13 (ff. 73-80, but lacking 1 leaf before f. 77) 14 (ff. 81-89, misbound: f. 87 should follow f. 82) 15⁶ 16-21⁸ 22-23⁶ 24⁴(-4). 21 long lines, ruled in pale red ink. Written in the early sixteenth century in France; the litany and the suffrages indicate Tours. Written in a bâtarde script, the main body of the text in one hand. A second scribe appears to have been responsible for most occurrences of the suffrage of All Saints (after each hour in the hours of the Virgin), and for the short hours of the Cross and the Holy Spirit; he often copies only one side of a leaf or picks up half-way down a page; his larger and more decorative hand usually coincides with a change in ink color (brown to grey), in rubric color (pink to red), in flourishing of the 2- and 1-line initials (finer to simpler). Folios copied by this scribe: 52, 56-58, 64-65, 69r-v, 75v line 12-76v, 80 line 20-81v, 102v line 10-104 line 8 (text at the end of the litany with a variation of Ps. 39, 15-18, versicles, responses and prayers for the pope, benefactors, the dead and absent brothers). A third hand (or a variation of the first?) copied ff. 82r-v, 87v, 88, 156-158. Three large miniatures apparently missing, for the openings of the hours of the Cross, of sext and of compline (before ff. 51, 62 and 77). Nine large miniatures survive, usually surrounding 5 (but occasionally 6 or 4) lines of text, enclosed by painted gold architectural or picture frames, and set against a rust-colored ground. The miniatures, with subjects in large scale in the foreground in the style of Jean Bourdichon, are: f. 25 (Hours of the Virgin), Annunciation; f. 41 (Lauds), Visitation; f. 51 (Hours of the Holy Spirit), Pentecost; f. 52v (Prime), Nativity; f. 58v (Terce), Annunciation to the shepherds; f. 65v (None), Presentation in the temple; f. 70 (Vespers), Joseph with a pack on a stick looking on as the Child Jesus leads his Mother; f. 89 (Penitential psalms), David, three-quarter length, in portrait style; f. 105 (Office of the Dead), the Three Living and the Three Dead. Four initials, 4-line, in a white leaf pattern with a face in gold camaïeu as infilling: on f. 17 (Obsecro te) and f. 20 (O intemerata), images of the Virgin; on f. 51 (Hours of the Holy Spirit), an old mans face; on f. 89 (Penitential psalms), a bust of a bear (?) in clothes. Initial on f. 23v (Septem gaudia), 7-line, gold, on a square brick-red ground. Other initials, 4- or 3-line, as gold or white leaves on gold-decorated squares of ochre, brick-red or blue; 2- and 1-line initials in painted gold on colored grounds; ribbon line fillers in the same manner. Binding: bound, 1857, by Duru, in a green and red painted Grolieresque design; gilt edges; red morocco slipcase. HM 1165. The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Books of hours--Texts--Early works to 1800 Books of hours France 16th century. (aat) Manuscripts (documents) France 16th century. (aat)
Source
Manuscripts, Huntington Digital Library
Provenance
Sold in 1854 by Lamarche of Dijon to Ambroise Firmin Didot (1790-1876); his sale, Paris, 12 June 1882, n. 21 to Lortic. Belonged to Robert Hoe; his sale, Anderson, New York, 1912, pt. III, n. 2069 to G. D. Smith. Precise source and date of acquisition by Henry E. Huntington unknown.
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