Description
LIVRE D'HEURES A L'USAGE DE PARIS . Manuscript on parchment. S.l.n.d. (Paris, ca. 1500-1510). In-8, burgundy morocco, 5-ribbed spine decorated with cold-stamped fillets, long-grained royal blue morocco lining with wide 18th-century-style interior small-iron lacework with bird's-eye, palmettes, rocaille and foliate irons, stars, circles, fillets..., gilt edges (Petit). Fine manuscript of 130 (out of 134) parchment leaves, 12.5 x 20.1 cm, ruled in red ink, text margins of 7.4 x 11.8 cm, 19 lines, written in gothic script in black with title or words in red or blue in the calendar and in red in the text, writing in Latin except for the calendar and a few words in French, margins of large paintings between 10.1/11 cm x 15.9/16.5 cm. Composition: first 2 leaves probably blank (f°1 - f°2) - Calendar (f° 3r - f°14v) - Extracts from the Gospels according to St. John (f°15r - f°16r), St. Luke (f°16r - f°17r), St. Matthew (f°17r - f°18r), St. Mark (f°18r - f°18v), Passion of Christ according to St. John (f°18v - f°25v) - Obsecro te prayer (f°25v - f°27v), O intemerata prayer (f°27v - f°29r), Marian prayer, Des festes de Nostre Dame (f°29r - f°30r) - Hours of the Virgin, Matins (f°31r - f°38v), Lauds (f°39r - f°46v), Prime (f°47r - f°50v), Tierce (f°51r - f°53v), Sexte (f°54r - f°56r), None (f°56v - f°58v), Vespers (f°59r - f°64r), Compline (f°64r - f°68r) - Hours of the Holy Cross (f°69r - f°71v) - Hours of the Holy Spirit (f°72r - f°74r) - Penitential Psalms (f°75r - f°84r) - Litanies (f°84r - f°85v), followed by instructions for prayers (f°85v - f°86v) - Office of the Dead (f°87r - f°112v) - Marian and universal prayers (oraison de sainte Brigitte de Suède) (f°113r - f°116v) - Votes (f°117r - f°132v) - Last 2 pages missing, at least one of which is text (f°133 - f°134) This book of hours was the subject of a remarkable study by Sophie THIALLIER as part of her master's thesis at the University of Pau in October 1999. The analysis below is largely based on this thesis, which will naturally be given to the purchaser of this manuscript. The text. The text of this Book of Hours is written in Latin, except for a few words or rare snatches of words. It appears to have been written not by a single hand, but by several, a relatively common practice in the workshops of the period. It is difficult to determine the exact number of copyists, but there are three types of handwriting: - the first, for the calendar, is legible, in large, angular Gothic characters. - the second, found throughout most of the volume, is a classic, elegant and highly legible script, with full and unobstructed lines sometimes extending below the sentence. - the third, found on only a few pages (the Obsecro te prayers and a few canonical hours), is a more edgy script, with tighter, slightly right-leaning letters. The calendar mentions a large number of saints whose cults are widespread in Europe and France. A comparison of this calendar with the one published by Paul Perdrizet in his book Le Calendrier parisien à la fin du Moyen Age reveals many similarities. Many of the saints are the same, and mentioned on identical dates; the translations of the relics of Saint Martin and Saint Benoit are mentioned in both works (July 4 and 11); and finally, in Perdrizet's calendar, several saints are inscribed in red or blue ink to highlight them to a greater or lesser extent, a similarity that is very frequently found here for the same saints. The only difference is that Sainte Geneviève, patron saint of Paris, is not inscribed on her feast day, January 3, but is nevertheless mentioned in the litanies. This latter inscription proves her importance to the patron and the fact that she was particularly honored in the diocese. Taken together, these elements point to the Parisian origin of this manuscript. Two other peculiarities are worth noting: firstly, the presence of quatrains written in French at the bottom of the months from February to September, i.e. 8 quatrains in which some of the saints mentioned in the month and sometimes their martyrdoms are invoked. These quatrains first appeared in the last decade of the 15th century, and their origin is not yet fully defined. They correspond to a somewhat widespread usage in printed books of hours of the period, notably those printed by Vérard, in which quatrains are sometimes found printed following c
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LIVRE D'HEURES A L'USAGE DE PARIS . Manuscript on parchment. S.l.n.d. (Paris, ca. 1500-1510). In-8, burgundy morocco, 5-ribbed spine decorated with cold-stamped fillets, long-grained royal blue morocco lining with wide 18th-century-style interior small-iron lacework with bird's-eye, palmettes, rocaille and foliate irons, stars, circles, fillets..., gilt edges (Petit). Fine manuscript of 130 (out of 134) parchment leaves, 12.5 x 20.1 cm, ruled in red ink, text margins of 7.4 x 11.8 cm, 19 lines, written in gothic script in black with title or words in red or blue in the calendar and in red in the text, writing in Latin except for the calendar and a few words in French, margins of large paintings between 10.1/11 cm x 15.9/16.5 cm. Composition: first 2 leaves probably blank (f°1 - f°2) - Calendar (f° 3r - f°14v) - Extracts from the Gospels according to St. John (f°15r - f°16r), St. Luke (f°16r - f°17r), St. Matthew (f°17r - f°18r), St. Mark (f°18r - f°18v), Passion of Christ according to St. John (f°18v - f°25v) - Obsecro te prayer (f°25v - f°27v), O intemerata prayer (f°27v - f°29r), Marian prayer, Des festes de Nostre Dame (f°29r - f°30r) - Hours of the Virgin, Matins (f°31r - f°38v), Lauds (f°39r - f°46v), Prime (f°47r - f°50v), Tierce (f°51r - f°53v), Sexte (f°54r - f°56r), None (f°56v - f°58v), Vespers (f°59r - f°64r), Compline (f°64r - f°68r) - Hours of the Holy Cross (f°69r - f°71v) - Hours of the Holy Spirit (f°72r - f°74r) - Penitential Psalms (f°75r - f°84r) - Litanies (f°84r - f°85v), followed by instructions for prayers (f°85v - f°86v) - Office of the Dead (f°87r - f°112v) - Marian and universal prayers (oraison de sainte Brigitte de Suède) (f°113r - f°116v) - Votes (f°117r - f°132v) - Last 2 pages missing, at least one of which is text (f°133 - f°134) This book of hours was the subject of a remarkable study by Sophie THIALLIER as part of her master's thesis at the University of Pau in October 1999. The analysis below is largely based on this thesis, which will naturally be given to the purchaser of this manuscript. The text. The text of this Book of Hours is written in Latin, except for a few words or rare snatches of words. It appears to have been written not by a single hand, but by several, a relatively common practice in the workshops of the period. It is difficult to determine the exact number of copyists, but there are three types of handwriting: - the first, for the calendar, is legible, in large, angular Gothic characters. - the second, found throughout most of the volume, is a classic, elegant and highly legible script, with full and unobstructed lines sometimes extending below the sentence. - the third, found on only a few pages (the Obsecro te prayers and a few canonical hours), is a more edgy script, with tighter, slightly right-leaning letters. The calendar mentions a large number of saints whose cults are widespread in Europe and France. A comparison of this calendar with the one published by Paul Perdrizet in his book Le Calendrier parisien à la fin du Moyen Age reveals many similarities. Many of the saints are the same, and mentioned on identical dates; the translations of the relics of Saint Martin and Saint Benoit are mentioned in both works (July 4 and 11); and finally, in Perdrizet's calendar, several saints are inscribed in red or blue ink to highlight them to a greater or lesser extent, a similarity that is very frequently found here for the same saints. The only difference is that Sainte Geneviève, patron saint of Paris, is not inscribed on her feast day, January 3, but is nevertheless mentioned in the litanies. This latter inscription proves her importance to the patron and the fact that she was particularly honored in the diocese. Taken together, these elements point to the Parisian origin of this manuscript. Two other peculiarities are worth noting: firstly, the presence of quatrains written in French at the bottom of the months from February to September, i.e. 8 quatrains in which some of the saints mentioned in the month and sometimes their martyrdoms are invoked. These quatrains first appeared in the last decade of the 15th century, and their origin is not yet fully defined. They correspond to a somewhat widespread usage in printed books of hours of the period, notably those printed by Vérard, in which quatrains are sometimes found printed following c
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