Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT BOOK OF HOURS, [Northern France or Flanders, early fifteenth century] image 1
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT BOOK OF HOURS, [Northern France or Flanders, early fifteenth century] image 2
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT BOOK OF HOURS, [Northern France or Flanders, early fifteenth century] image 3
Lot 89

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT
BOOK OF HOURS, [Northern France or Flanders, early fifteenth century]

15 June 2016, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

£10,000 - £15,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Books & Manuscripts specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT

BOOK OF HOURS, illuminated manuscript, on vellum, 162 leaves (wanting 1 leaf at opening, 2 final leaves (?blanks) and probably 2 further leaves bearing miniatures), in a single gothic textura on 16 lines, WITH 6 LARGE MINIATURES (?of 8) in arched compartments, each with leafy borders with fruit and flowers in gold and colours, 2 small miniatures, 12 4-line illuminated initials in liquid gold and colours, some with spray decoration, numerous single and double line initials, rubrics (red and blue), 4 other leaves with full borders, occasional rubbing and soiling, affecting (most noticeably) the 3 miniatures at 28v, 73v and 98v, later sheep, worn, small 4to (160 × 120mm.), [Northern France or Flanders, early fifteenth century]

Footnotes

An interesting Book of Hours, with extensive texts additional to the Book of Hours. Though the use is unidentified, the presence of St. Druon or Drogo (apparently venerated by the shepherds of Flanders, among others) in the Suffrages strongly suggests the origin in Northern France or Flanders. The calendar for August also lists the obscure St Bettremieu (in red), associated with Cambrai and Tournai.

COLLATION: A5 (of ?6 missing A1), B8 (but missing 2 leaves with miniatures, probably singletons before B1 and B8), C8, D6, E1 (singleton), F-J8, K4, L1 (singleton), M-O8 (including 1 blank leaf), P1 (singleton), Q-R8, S10, T-W8, X6 (of 8, wanting 2 final leaves).

TEXT: ff.1-5 Calendar March-December (wants January and February on first leaf); 6-12v Hours of the Cross; 13-19 Hours of the Holy Spirit; 19v-27v Suffrages including prayers to John the Baptist, Saints Margaret, Katherine, Barbara, and Druon [Drogo] (partly in French), 29-71 Hours of the Virgin; 74-81 Penitential Psalms; 82-84 De Prufundis; 84-96 Litany and Memorials; 99-123 Office of the Dead and readings; 124-35v Commendations; 136-55 Six Psalms; 156-162 miscellaneous devotions.

ILLUMINATION: 19v John the Baptist (104 × 76mm.); 20v Saint Margaret with a dragon (100 × 76mm.); 22 Priest and acolytes at an altar before the figure of Christ risen (100 × 80mm.); 28v The Angel appears to the Virgin in a bedchamber (126 × 78mm.); 73v David with his harp and book (124 × 79mm.); 98v Christ appears to a risen soul (female) before a town; 156 and 157, 2 small miniatures (56 × 45mm.).

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A Presentation Copy of Kennedy's First Book to Spencer Tracy. Kennedy, John F. 1917-1963. Why England Slept. New York: Wilfred Funk, Inc., 1940.

Signed to Spencer Tracy 1952 Hemingway, Ernest. 1899-1961. The Old Man and the Sea, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952.

CORNELIUS, MATTHEWS, editor. 1817-1889. The Enchanted Moccasins and Other Legends of the American Indians.