1 - BOOK OF HOURS.

BOOK OF HOURS. [ROME USUAGE, with a calendar; Tours usage; illuminated by a Parisian workshop]. Manuscript on parchment in French and Latin, Paris, France, circa 1480–1500. Format: In-8°, 169 x 110 mm. 120 leaves, complete. Collation: 112, 2-88, 96, 10-118, 124, 13-158, 162. Modern folio numbering in pencil; with occasional page numbers. Writing area: 108 x 65 mm. One column of 17 lines, ruled in light brown ink. Written in dark brown ink in Textura Gothic script; calendar in red, blue, and gold; headings in red; capital letters accented in yellow. Hundreds of single-line initials adorned with gold leaf or in blue, hundreds of two-line initials adorned with gold leaf, filled and bordered in blue, or blue initials filled and bordered in red, alternating; line endings in gold leaf and blue; at the beginning of each section of text, twelve 3-to-4-line initials in grisaille or half-grisaille in pink, filled with a liquid gold ground and decorated with flowers, leaves, and fruit, set within rectangular frames on a burgundy background adorned with liquid gold filigree; 6 large miniatures (1/2 page) surrounded by solid borders; the beginnings of nearly every section of the Hours of the Virgin surrounded by solid borders; borders composed of alternating geometric shapes in liquid gold with fruits and flowers, or swirling acanthus in blue, red, mauve, and white. The volume is in excellent overall condition, with the exception of a few decorated leaves where the black ink of the outlines has slightly bled, and on f. 75 (miniature of David), where a liquid appears to have slightly diluted the color of the miniature’s frame; small wormholes in the upper margin of the last quires (ff. 107–120); the upper half-cover is detached at the spine, with the sewing threads visible. Brown morocco leather, gold-stamped decoration; the spaces reserved for the coats of arms on the upper and lower covers are no longer legible, though a decorative “H” can still be discerned on the upper cover; signs of wear on the binding at the corners and cap ends. This beautiful manuscript from the last quarter of the 15th century contains a calendar according to the Tours rite and a text richly illuminated with six colorful and lively miniatures by an artist of the Parisian school. Provenance Prideaux signature on the upper inside cover; possibly Edmund Prideaux of Cornwall, England, who collected manuscripts such as the *Somme le Roi* (London, BL, Add. Ms. 54180), which he had signed c. 1720; ( ??) Auction, Sotheby’s, July 3, 1984, lot 86; Europe, private collection. Text—ff. 1–12: Calendar in French, with feast days in red, including: (Jan.) The Circumcision, Epiphany; (Feb.) Candlemas, St. Peter, Matthias; (Mar.) The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary; (Apr.) Mark; (May) James & Philip, Holy Cross, John; (June) Barnabas, John the Baptist, Peter & Paul the Apostles; (Jul.) The Visitation of the Virgin Mary, Martin, Mary Magdalene, James, Christopher; (Aug.) Peter, Stephen, Lawrence, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Bartholomew, John the Baptist; (Sept.) The Nativity of the Virgin Mary, Matthew, Michael; (Oct.) Denis, Simon & Jude; (Nov.) All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, Martin, Bris (Brice), Catherine, Andrew; (Dec.) The Immaculate Conception, Gacien, Thomas, Christmas Day, Estienne, Jehan, the Holy Innocents; (ff. 13–74v) Hours of the Virgin, with scattered Hours of the Cross and of the Holy Spirit: (ff. 13–24v) Matins; (ff. 24v–39) Lauds (f. 36, Mat. of the Cross, f. 38v, Mat. of the Holy Spirit); (ff. 39–45) Prime (f. 43v, Pri. of the Cross, f. 44v, Pri. of the Holy Spirit); (ff. 45–50v) Terce (f. 49, Terce of the Cross, f. 50, Terce of the Holy Spirit); (ff. 50v–55) Sext (f. 54, Sext Cross, f. 54v, Holy Spirit); (ff. 55–59v) None (f. 58v, None of the Cross, f. 59v, None of the Holy Spirit); (ff. 60–68v) Vespers (f. 67v, Vespers of the Cross, f. 68, Vespers of the Holy Spirit); (ff. 68v–74v) Compline (f. 72v, Compline Cross, f. 73v, Compline of the Holy Spirit); (ff. 75–87) Penitential Psalms: (ff. 87–90v) Litanies; (ff. 90v–94) Psalm, Prayer (Deus in adiutorium meum intende; Deus cui proprium est); (f. 94v) blank; (ff. 95–120) The Office of the Dead: (ff. 95–101v) Vespers; (ff. 102–109v) Matins (f. 103, 1st night); (ff. 110–120) Lauds; (f. 120v) blank. The saints in the calendar—Gatian, Martin (mentioned twice), and Brice—together constitute a body of solid and specific evidence in favor of a calendar intended for use in Tours. The presence of Denis in red alongside the saints of Tours could indicate that a Parisian workshop added its local royal saint to a Tours calendar model, customized for a patron associated with that diocese. ILLUMINATION The illuminator of this manuscript belongs to the Parisian commercial tradition descended from Master Fran