7 - ca. 1510

ca. 1510 BOOK. (GOTHIC BOOK OF HOURS). HEURES A LUSAIGE DE RO[M]ME SA[N]S RIEN REQUERIT. WITH ITS ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE AND SEVERAL OTHER STORIES: BOTH FROM THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. Paris: by Gillet Hardouyn, n.d. Large 8vo. Unfolioed and unnumbered, 92 printed leaves on vellum. In Latin and French. Sign. A8-L8, M4. Folio K4 is missing; a replacement copy has been inserted. Gothic typeface, 30 lines per page; the entire text is framed by decorative woodcut borders featuring floral and figurative motifs. Contains 23 full-page engravings depicting various biblical scenes or scenes from tradition (including repeated depictions of the Massacre of the Innocents). The printer’s mark on the title page is a mythological scene, dominated by a coat of arms decorated in gold, blue, and red; on the reverse of the title page is the astral man (as a skeleton) with the four elements and the temperaments. The colophon bears the Hardouyn family’s typographic mark, which replicates the Portuguese royal coat of arms of Manuel I. The entire volume features hand-painted gold capital letters set against a blue or red background. The top margin is slightly short. At the beginning is a handwritten parchment leaf from the period containing the text of the *Dies irae* in Latin, and on the reverse, a prayer to Saint Adrian. Books of hours, which in previous centuries had been the exclusive preserve of royalty and the nobility, became accessible to the bourgeoisie with the advent of the printing press. Seeking the exquisiteness and exclusivity of those original illuminated manuscripts, printing houses specializing in this type of work emerged to cater to a broader audience. Paris became the hub for these publishers, who achieved exceptional quality. In addition to the above, it includes a calendar covering 21 years (from 1510 to 1530), excerpts from the four Gospels, the “Oficio Parvo Mariano” (Hours of Our Lady, of the Cross, and of the Holy Spirit), seven penitential psalms, a litany, the Office of the Dead, suffrages to the saints, various prayers, prayers from the Mass, a prayer to the Virgin for Saturdays, the Office of the ...