Search Results: Books of Hours from Les Enluminures

SUBSTANTIAL BOOK OF HOURS IN GOOD CONDITION WITH MANY LARGE AND SMALL MINIATURES. Illuminated manuscript on parchment, in Latin, Southern Netherlands, Ghent or Bruges, c. 1460-1470. Dimensions 179 x 124 mm., 118 folios, complete, written in brown ink in a textualis formata bookhand on 19 lines, one-line initials, 2- to 3- line champ initials, fourteen 6-line initials, one HISTORIATED INITIAL (5-lines), ELEVEN SMALL MINIATURES (6-lines), FOURTEEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES, 28 FULL BORDERS. BINDING: nineteenth-century dark brown calf, gold-tooled, contains words in gilt (mostly rubbed out) MARIE (front board) and ROSARIE (back board), gauffered edges. ILLUSTRATION: Painted in the style of the Masters of the Beady Eyes, this Book of Hours is distinguished by its unusual and enigmatic details. The artist is eager to represent architectural and structural details, which sometimes lead to curious spatial arrangements and juxtapositions. PROVENANCE: The painting style situates the production of this book in Ghent… Read More

FASCINATING MEDIEVAL BOOK OF HOURS WITH EXTENSIVE ILLUMINATIONS BY THREE DIFFERENT ARTISTS. In Latin and some French, illuminated manuscript on parchment, Southern Netherlands, Mons, c. 1460 (original portion), c. 1480-1490 (updated). Dimensions 167 x 116 mm., 199 folios, lacking one text leaf, written by two different scribes in gothic textualis bookhand in single column on 17 lines; BINDING: seventeenth century brown calf over wooden boards, spine with four raised bands, gold-tooled, gilt title ("OFFICIU / BEATEM / VIRGIN", partly worn out), gilt edges. ILLUSTRATION: 22 full-page miniatures within full rinceaux borders by the Mildmay Master (13), the Master of Philippe de Croÿ (7), and a third Mons illuminator, follower of Simon Marmion (2), and 4 small miniatures by the Mildmay Master, additional sixteen full rinceaux borders, and 5-line initials in pink or blue on burnished gold grounds. The Mildmay Master was responsible for the core of the original manuscript; the artist paints elongated… Read More

ILLUMINATED CALENDAR FROM A PARISIAN PRAYER BOOK. In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, France (likely Paris), c. 1400-1420. Dimensions 155 x 107 mm. 12 folios on parchment, (collation, one quire of twelve leaves), ruled in plummet, written in a gothic quadrata bookhand in black and red ink on 17 long lines, with 12 illuminated initials in burnished goldleaf on grounds of blue and purple with white tracery, with ivy leaf foliate and floral ornament in goldleaf extending into margin in the upper left quadrant of the leaves.
BINDING:Modern binding in quarter black Morocco. TEXT: Calendars from medieval manuscripts are rich sources for anyone who wants to learn about the medieval world. Without today's modern devices, they were how people knew what day it was and calculated the special feast days, such as Easter, that were so important to religious life. Most feasts were written in black (or dark brown) ink, whereas the more important feasts appear in red (hence, our term "red-letter day,"… Read More

BOOK OF PRAYERS WOVEN IN SILK ON A JACQUARD LOOM. In Latin and French, woven prayer book on silk, R. P. J. Hervier, designer; J. A. Henry, fabricator, for A. Roux, France, Lyon, c. 1886-1887. Dimensions 178 x 145 mm., 50 silk pages, complete, text in one or two columns, one half-page and three full-page illustrations and various styles of decorative borders and initials throughout on every page, woven entirely in silver-gray and black silk, with a greyish-silver texture to the cast, fore edges gilt. BINDING: Bound in dark blue panel gilt morocco by Marcelin Lortic of Paris, the covers with elaborate foliates, strapwork, fleurons, and friezes, inside with crimson morocco doublures, edges gilt with a knotted cord design, fold-ins gilt and stamped "M. Lortic" at front, with five raised bands, spine gilt stamped "Prières" in Gothic blackletter. ILLUSTRATION: Every page of this book is surrounded by border decorations of a wide variety. The half- and full-page illustrations are designed after paintings by… Read More

BOOK DESCRIPTION: A fascinating example of the "life" of a book. In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, Southern Netherlands (Bruges?), c. 1430-1450; Spain (Granada?), 1534. Dimensions 125 x 85 mm., iii (modern paper) + 97 + iii (modern paper) folios on parchment (missing an uncertain number of leaves), made in two campaigns: the first, ff. 1-46, copied in seventeen long lines in a formal gothic book hand, the second, ff. 46-97, copied by another scribe in a rounded gothic book hand on sixteen long lines. SIX ILLUMINATED INITIALS WITH FULL BORDERS, FOUR HISTORIATED INITIALS, SEVENTEEN SMALL MINIATURES, and ONE INITIAL WITH BORDER. BINDING: very attractive Spanish modern Morocco binding with binder's stamp of Antolín Palomino, one of the most important bookbinders of the twentieth century, and the founder of a bookbinding school in Madrid. TEXT: A fascinating example of the "life" of a book, this manuscript began as a Prayer Book written and decorated in mid-15th century Bruges. About a… Read More

CHARMING TINY PRINTED BOOK OF HOURS WITH EXPERTLY ILLUMINATED METALCUTS IN AN UNUSUAL OBLONG FORMAT, In Latin and French, printed and illuminated on parchment in Paris, c. 1536. Dimensions 143 x 76 mm., 90 folios, complete, 32 lines printed in Roman font in black ink (justification 118 x 47 mm), single-, double-, and triple-line initials in gold paint on alternating red and blue grounds, 14 metal-cuts, hand-illuminated in full color with gold borders. BINDING: Nineteenth-century brown leather with gilt-ruled frame, gold-tooled spine, worn with losses at joints and edges, small scratches and abrasions to the covers. TEXT AND ILLUSTRATION: Printed Books of Hours, like this rare example, consciously imitated illuminated manuscripts. In this particularly appealing volume by the Hardouyn Workshop, fourteen metalcuts are so vibrantly and expertly painted that they are practically indistinguishable from illuminated miniatures. This is a very rare imprint, not in Lacombe (1907) or Brunet (1860–1865); very… Read More