Beschreibung:

Book of Hours, Use of Rouen, in Latin and French. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, [France: Rouen, c. 1480], ii + 160 + iii leaves, COMPLETE, collation: 112; 2–38, 42; 5–108, 114; 12–138, 144; 158; 16–218; tissue interleaves face the large miniatures; ff. 30r–v and 160v ruled, otherwise blank; ruled in red ink for 14 lines per page (16 in the calendar), the ruled space c. 90 × 60 mm, written in a fine gothic textura script, the calendar with major feasts in burnished gold, the others alternately red or blue, EVERY TEXT PAGE ILLUMINATED WITH AT LEAST ONE PANEL BORDER of semi-naturalistic flowers and plants on a gold ground, and blue and gold stylised acanthus on a plain parchment ground; the calendar with 24 SMALL SQUARE MINIATURES SET INTO PANEL BORDERS; the major divisions of the text marked by TWELVE LARGE MINIATURES above three or four lines of text and surrounded by full borders, SOME CONTAINING SUBSIDIARY MINIATURES, some containing animals, birds, or fantastic hybrid figures; TWO HISTORIATED INITIALS; a few prayers with 4-line initials; hundreds of two-line illuminated foliate initials, one-line initials, and line-fillers throughout; with a few minor blemishes (e.g. slight pigment loss in the lower right corner of the miniature on f. 31r, and slight water-staining in the lower left corner) but generally in fine, clean condition throughout, with ample margins, marbled endpapers, burgundy morocco gilt bookplate of W. A. Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey, all edges gilt, sewn on five bands and bound in 18th-century French red diced calf over pasteboards, the covers framed with gilt ornament, the spine gilt and with title ‘L’Office de l’eglise’ in capitals, upper cover stained, the upper fore-edge turn-in lifting, 8vo (180 x 128 mm) (Quantity: 1) Provenance: The style of illumination and liturgical Use point to Rouen as the place of production; the sparse calendar includes St Romanus in gold (23 October), as well as St Evodius (8 October) and Mellonus (22 October), all three were bishops of Rouen; Romanus and Mellonus also appear in the Litany. Prayers are written for the use of a female supplicant, and a conventional portrait of the original owner appears in the final miniature. An erased 17th(?)-century ownership(?) note begins ‘Mon dieu qui …’ (f. 2r, lower margin); the same owner may have been responsible for lightly disguising the nudity that occurs in some marginal scenes: Aquarius (f. 1v), Gemini (f. 5v) and Bathsheba (f. 83r). ‘From Robinsons, 25/8/49’ (in pencil, front flyleaf), presumably referring to W. H. Robinson, of Pall Mall. W. A. Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey (bookplate). Text: Calendar, in French (f. 1r); Gospel extracts (f. 13r); prayers ‘Obsecro te’ and ‘O intemerata’, using feminine forms (f. 20v); Hours of the Virgin (f. 31r), Lauds followed by suffrages to the Holy Spirit, Nicholas, and Katherine; Seven Penitential Psalms (f. 83r) followed (f. 98r) by a Litany of saints (Clement, Fabian, and Sebastian, at the bottom of f. 100r, are mistakenly repeated at the top of the verso); Hours of the Cross (f. 105) and of the Spirit (f. 109r); Office of the Dead (f. 113r); ‘Les quinze joies nostre dame’ (f. 151r) and ‘Les sept requestes’ of the Lord (f. 157r), both in French. Illumination: (ff. 1r–12v) The calendar has Occupations of the months on rectos, and zodiac signs on versos: January: Feasting; Aquarius February: Warming at a hearth; Pisces March: Pollarding; Aries April: Half-length man in a garden; Taurus May: Man and woman on horseback, hawking; Gemini: a naked man and woman embracing June: Scything; Cancer July: Reaping; Leo August: Threshing; Virgo September: Treading grapes; Libra October: Sowing seed; Scorpio November: Knocking acorns from trees to feed pigs; Sagittarius December: Killing a pig; Capricorn The major texts are each introduced by a large miniature, including the individual Hours of the Virgin, except Vespers and Compline which have historiated initials: 1. (f. 13r) The Four Evangelists, in a four-part mi