Manuscript on parchment of a Book of Hours. With Calendar, Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, and Seven Requests, all in French
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: Written in liturgical gothic bookhand in two sizes, by a single scribe. Prayers (ff. 1r-2v, 49r-v, 101r-103r) added in an informal batarde script, apparently by a single person., The manuscript originally contained the full complement of miniatures; their removal (following ff. 8, 13, 22, 33, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 49, 61, 64, and 87) is indicated by stubs, missing bifolios and breaks in the text. The remaining decoration consists of compartmentalized borders typical of late 15th-century Rouen manuscripts. One full border (f. 3r) in red bounding lines with pink and blue acanthus leaves on a gold ground, alternating with flowers and strawberries on parchment ground, filled in with black and gold dots; three borders (ff. 4r, 6r, 7r) in outer margin only. 3/4 band borders (with 5- and 4- line initials); single bands in outer margin (with 2-line initials); additional small bands occur when 2-line initial is on a recto. Borders are traced whenever they occur on recto and verso of same leaf; all with blue and gold acanthus leaves, flowers on parchment ground, filler as for full border. Many pages have no border. Initials, 5-, 4-, 2-, and 1-line, gold, on blue and red grounds with white highlights; 4-line initials, blue on a gold ground, filled with red and blue trilobe leaves in lattices; the 2-line initials occasionally with a narrow border in inner margin with flowers, black hair-spray, and gold dots (red bounding lines). Ribbon and quatrelobe line-fillers in gold, blue, and red, highlighted in white. Rubrics in orange-tinted red. Calendar has months, dates, and important feasts in gold; other feasts alternately in blue and red. Most spaces for initials within the added prayers have not been filled., and Binding: Seventeenth century. Dark red goatskin, gold-tooled, with a smooth spine.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval