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HORAE, use of Rome, in Latin and French
Horae, in laudem beatiss. semper virginis Mariae. Paris: Simon Colines, 16 January 1525 [title: ‘1524’].
Finely illuminated, first issue of a celebrated landmark in Renaissance design. In designing the present Book of Hours for Colines, Geoffroy Tory created ‘the first French book which from beginning to end was a highly conscious and deliberate work of art’ (W. Ivins). He turned to Italian Renaissance design for inspiration and his cuts are highly reminiscent of the finest early Italian illustration in the Aldine Hypnerotomachi Poliphili. Tory and Colines were fully aware of the novelty of the design, and the six-privilege for the edition specifically included the illustrations, described as ‘histories et vignettes a Lantique’. The fine, elegant aesthetic is emphasised in the present copy by its restrained illumination, which heightens rather than obscures the printed images.
This is the first of three issues of the first edition, dated on the title 1524. The blocks are signed with a Lorraine cross, assigned to the block cutter Jacquemin Woeiriot working for Tory. Bohatta 1095-97; 5 Jh. Buchill. 75; Mortimer, Harvard French 303 (2nd issue)
Quarto (207 x 135mm). Printed in red and black, roman and bâtarde types, 13 large miniatures from 12 blocks signed with the Lorraine cross, [Colines device on title], Tory dolphin title-borde, 16 4-part borders signed with the Lorraine cross, almanac for 1523-51, title border, miniatures and their accompanying borders illuminated in liquid gold, and colours, title-page with large illuminated coat of arms of F. Cheron (overpainting Colines device), armorial shields in borders painted with elements of the Cheron arms, capital strokes in yellow (occasional small stain). Contemporary French blindtooled calf over thin pasteboard, central panel of vertical rolls, edges gilt and gauffered (worn, repaired at hinges and corners); modern black morocco case. Provenance: F. Cheron (arms on title) – Jeanne Lebeau, wife of Claude Cheron (early inscription at end) – Otto Schaefer (sale Sotheby's, 27 June 1995, lot 108; monogram at end).
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