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THE BOURGEOYS HOURS, use of Bourges, mainly in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
THE BOURGEOYS HOURS, use of Bourges, mainly in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [France, Bourges, c.1505-1510 (before 1515)] 275 x 130mm. 91 leaves, COMPLETE: i 2 , ii 2 , 1 6 , 2 8 , 3 4 , 4-8 8 , 9 4 , 10-12 8 , with catchwords and leaf signatures in most quires, the last and the first four leaves are not foliated and were originally unwritten ruled flyleaves, the two bifolia that form the front flyleaves should be a single quire of 4 leaves at the end of the volume in the order ff.i, iii, iv, ii, and in the final quire the second and third bifolia have been transposed, ff.49v-50v, 61v-62v, and the final flyleaf are ruled, otherwise blank, prickings survive sporadically, 24 lines written in brown ink in a fine bâtarde hand between two verticals and 25 horizontals ruled in red, justification: 130 x 65mm, rubrics in burgundy, calendar in alternating red, blue and - extremely rare - green, with major feasts in gold, one-line initials alternately gold with blue penwork or blue with red penwork, two- and three-line initials in gold on grounds of red and blue with white ornament, similar line-endings in the litany, THIRTEEN HISTORIATED INITIALS FIVE OR SIX LINES HIGH, the first eight lines high, ACCOMPANIED BY THREE-SIDED BORDERS, ONE SMALL MINIATURE seven lines high, and THREE LARGE MINIATURES ACCOMPANIED BY FULL BORDERS of stylised and semi-naturalistic plants and flowers on a gold ground (some cockling, thumbing to margins, some inconsequential losses of gold leaf in some miniatures, occasional offsets, not affecting miniatures). Contemporary blind-stamped leather over wooden boards, the covers with repeated rectangular tools including a lamb and flag, a six-pointed star and flowerheads, gilt edges (rebacked, with original spine laid down, corners restored, traces of two missing clasps at the fore-edges, a few worm-holes, a section of leather missing from the lower fore-edge). Brown solander box. AN UNUSUAL AND ATTRACTIVE MANUSCRIPT BY AN UNRECORDED BOURGES ARTIST, WITH A DISTINGUISHED PROVENANCE, IN A FINE CONTEMPORARY BINDING PROVENANCE: 1. Written and illuminated probably in Bourges for someone living to the west of the diocese or originating from the area of Poitiers, to judge by the calendar: the feasts include William of Bourges (10 January, in gold), and Austregesil of Bourges (20 May, with octave), but also the miracles in the church of St Mary, Deols, about 50 miles southwest of Bourges (30 April) and at least four saints of Poitiers: Maxentius (25 June), Hilary (translation, 26 June), Junianus (12 August), and Radegund (13 August). The style of illumination, the headdress worn by Bathsheba, and the tall, narrow, format of the volume suggest a date around 1505-10. 2. Raymond Bourgeoys of Paris, procureur en parlement , and his wife Nicolle Aimes; on the front flyleaves are details of the dates and times of the births, godparents, and baptisms of their seventeen children, with one born every year from 1514 to 1533 except 1520 and 1523; those born from 1514-1515 and 1522-1533 were baptised at the church of St-Pierre-aux-Boeufs (on the Île de la Cité, Paris, adjacent to the Parlement) and those from 1516-1521 at St-Christophe. The godparents include several Bourgeoys relatives, plus priests, abbots, archdeacons, and higher-ranking officials, including Guillaume Hue, Dean of Paris, and Guillaume Poyet, who became Chancellor of France in 1538. Slight differences of ink and script in each entry suggest that they were added individually, which would means that Raymond owned the book before the birth of his second child in 1515. 3. A second list on the front flyleaves record the children of the above Raymond's ninth son (born in 1526), also called Raymond, and his wife Adrienne Regnault; their four children were born from 1553 to 1557 and baptised at the church of St-Jacques de la Boucherie (of which the Tour St-Jacques still stands, just north of the Île de la Cité). This Raymond copied part of his last will and tes