Book of Hours, Use of Paris

Fols 1r–6v. Calendar with special saints in red, including SS Geneviève, Anne. Egidius. Marcellus and Martin of Tours. Entries in brown include translation of SS Martin, Alban, Eligius (twice), Egidius, Boniface and Remigius.

Fols 7r–10v. Gospel sequences.

Fols 11r–18r. The Passion according to St John.

Fols 18v–21r. Obsecro te.

Fols 21v–23r. O intemerata.

Fols 23r–75v. The Hours of the Virgin secundum usum parisiensum, with the short Hours of the Cross and of the Holy Ghost inserted: matins (fols 23r-39r); hymn O quam glorifica (fol. 25r); ps. ant. Exaltata es (fol. 5v); and nine lessons; lauds (fols 39r-46r); capit. Te laudant angeli (fol. 44v); hymn Virgo dei genitrix (fol. 44v); collect Deus qui de beate (fol. 46r); prime (fols 48r-53r), ps. ant. Benedicta tu (fol. 49r); capit. Felix namque (fol. 51v); tierce (fols 53r-57r); sext (fols 57r-61v); none (fols 61v-65r); ps. ant. Sicut lilium (fol. 63v); vespers (fols 65r-70v); compline (fols 70v-75v).

Fols 76r–84r. Penitential Psalms.

Fols 84r–87v. Litany of the Saints, including SS Carolus, Martialis (Limoges), Marcellus (Paris), Maurus, Leobinus (Chartres). Genevieve, Remigius, Eligius, Egidius.

Fols 87v–117v. The Office of the Dead.

Fols 118r–125r. Commemorations of the Trinity and Saints. St Michael (fol. 118v), St John the Baptist (fol. 119r), St John the Evangelist (fol. 119v), SS Peter and Paul (fol. 120r), St James (fol. 121r), St Sebastian (fol. 121v), St Nicholas (fol. 122v), St Anne (fol.123r), St Mary Magdalene (fol. 123v), St Catherine (fol. 124r), St Margaret (fol. 124v), St Genevieve (fol. 125r).

Parchment

The Calendar has 3 columns of 8, 4 and 43 mm., and is ruled for 35 lines, spaced 3.5 mm apart. The manuscript was trimmed on three sides; consequently no prickmarks are visible.

Text space 101 x 54 mm. Mostly 20 long lines, ruled 5 mm. apart in pale red ink. The text is written uniformly about 1 mm. above the baseline.

Throughout the text there are numerous gold initials, one or two lines high, on alternately red and blue rectangular grounds. In the Litany these initials are on red, blue, and green grounds. Red rubrics and line endings of red, blue, and green with gold embellishments also appear throughout the text. In the calendar the initials ‘KL’ introducing the months are in gold leaf on blue rectangular fields, and the rubrics and special feasts are in red ink. Fourteen initials, three lines high, introduce the text below the large miniatures. These initials are mainly pink on gold rectangular fields, or occasionally gold on blue; all are enriched with a variety of vegetal motifs.

Seventeen small miniatures have plain gold indented frames. Fourteen large miniatures surmount cartouches containing five lines of text. These miniatures and initials are surrounded by full-page, architectonic borders, which contain elaborate bases, columns, architraves, and pediments, some being embellished with fictive sculptural elements, swags, and pendants. The miniature on fol. 88r has a more restrained architectonic frame, which does not incorporate an initial below. Seventeen smaller miniatures have plain gold stepped frames. The miniatures are painted in shades of red, mauve, blue, green, grey, fawn, white and gold. Brushed gold is used sparingly for highlighting, and diluted greys or white for modeling.

Program of Decoration and Illustration

The fifteen large miniatures illustrate the text as follows:

Fol. 7r. Saint John on Patmos with a vision of the Virgin: the Gospel of Saint John.

Fol. 23v. The Annunciation: matins for Hours of the Virgin;

Fol. 39v. The Visitation: lauds for Hours of the Virgin;

Fol. 46v. The Crucifixion: matins for the Hours of the Cross;

Fol. 47v. Pentecost: matins for the Hours of the Holy Spirit;

Fol. 48v. The Nativity: prime for the Hours of the Virgin;

Fol. 53v. The Annunciation to the shepherds: tierce for the Hours of the Virgin;

Fol. 57v. The Adoration of the Magi: sext for the Hours of the Virgin;

Fol. 61v. The Presentation: none for the Hours of the Virgin;

Fol. 65v. The Flight into Egypt: vespers for the Hours of the Virgin;

Fol. 75v. The Coronation of the Virgin: compline for the Hours of the Virgin.

Fol. 76r. King David with his harp: the Penitential Psalms.

Fol. 88r. Job and his comforters: the Vigils of the Dead.

Fol. 118r. The Trinity: the commemoration of the Trinity.

Seventeen small miniatures introduce three of the gospel sequences, devotions and commemorations as follows:

Fol. 8r. St Luke writing: the Gospel of St Luke;

Fol. 9r. St Matthew writing: the Gospel of St Matthew;

Fol. 9v. St Mark writing: the Gospel of St Mark;

Fol. 18v. the Virgin and Child: Obsecro te;

Fol. 21v. Pietà: O intemerata;

Fol. 118v. St Michael;

Fol. 119v. St John the Baptist;

Fol. 120r. St John the Evangelist with the poisoned cup;

Fol. 120v. SS Peter and Paul;

Fol. 121r. St James;

Fol. 121v. St Sebastian;  

Fol. 122v. St Nicholas;

Fol. 123r. St Anne;

Fol. 123v. St Mary Magdalen;

Fol. 124r. St Catherine;

Fol. 124v. St Margaret;

Fol. 125. St Geneviève.

At the top of fol. 1r in a late fifteenth- or sixteenth-century hand is a scribbled name (perhaps ‘De Brosses’). Glued to the front pastedown is a folio preserved from a previous binding, bearing the ex-libris of Nicolas-Joseph Foucault (1643-1721), with his arms and the legend: ‘EX BIBLIOTHECA NICOLAI JOSEPH FOUCAULT COMITAS CONSISTORIANI’. Foucault was the first marquis de Magny, and a distinguished French archeologist, bibliophile, lawyer, statesman, and administrator.

Folio i has stuck to it part of a folio from a previous binding with the ex-libris of C.W. Loscombe (d. 1853). His library was sold by Sotheby and Wilkinson on 19–22 June 1854, and may be identical with lot number 1156 in the sale catalogue (The Valuable Library of the Late C.W. Loscombe, Esq., F.S.A., & c., of Clifton).

Stuck directly to the verso of fol. i is the ex-libris of Alfred Trapnell, with a red circular attachment bearing the gilt number ‘2118’. A sale of Trapnell’s books and manuscripts was held in London by Sotheby’s, Wilkinson, and Hodge, on 6 April 1910 (Catalogue of Valuable Books and Manuscripts; the Property of Alfred Trapnell, Esq. of Bournemouth: […]).

On the front pastedown is the accession number of the Public Library of Victoria, now the State Library of Victoria: ‘3556603’. On fol. ii is the ex-libris of the Public Library of Victoria. On the verso of fol. ii, and on fol. 125v is the stamp ‘Public Library of Victoria’. According to Mr Trevor Mills of the State Library of Victoria (cited Manion and Vines, 1984, p. 225), the book was purchased in 1929 by the State Library of Victoria from E. A. Pair, an antiquarian bookseller with the Melbourne firm of Robertson and Mullens. On the back pastedown is written in pencil the State Library of Victoria’s initial shelf-mark: ‘*096/R66 Ho’.

Sotheby’s Sale Catalogue, London, 9–22 June 1854, Lot 1156? (The Valuable Library of the Late C.W. Loscombe, Esq., F.S.A., & c., of Clifton).

 Sotheby’s, Wilkinson, and Hodge Sale Catalogue, London, 6 April 1910 (Catalogue of Valuable Books and Manuscripts; the Property of Alfred Trapnell, Esq. of Bournemouth: […]).

 C.A. McCallum, The Public Library of Victoria, 1856–1956, Melbourne, 1956, the Adoration of the Magi on fol 57 v. is reproduced as the frontisepiece illustration.

 K.V. Sinclair, Descriptive Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Western Manuscripts in Australia, Sydney, 1969, pp. 351–3, no. 212.

 R.M. Thomson, ‘9. State Library of Victoria 096 R66 Ho’, Medieval Manuscripts from the State Libraries and the National Gallery of Victoria, The University Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2–12 October 1973, Melbourne, unpaginated, no. 9.

 M.M. Manion and V.F. Vines, Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts in Australian Collections, London, 1984, pp. 208–25, no. 87, pl. 47, and figs 241–2.

Randall, L.M.C., assisted by Clarkson, C. and Krochalis, J., Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, 3 vols, Baltimore and London, 1988–1997, vol. II, part 2: France, 1420-1540, (1992) p. 468.

Sinclair (1969, pp. 351–53), suggested a possible Chartres origin for this manuscript given the saints in the Litany. Many of its decorated and illustrative elements reflect late Parisian or Parisian-influenced illumination. 

Chief Investigators (CIs) of the ARC project were Professor emeritus Margaret Manion (The University of Melbourne), Professor Bernard Muir (The University of Melbourne), and Dr Toby Burrows (The University of Western Australia). Graduate research assistants were Alexandra Ellem, Dr Hugh Hudson, Dr Elaine Shaw and postgraduate scholar Elizabeth Melzer (The University of Melbourne). Shane Carmody was the representative of the Chief Industry Partner (The State Library of Victoria). The following curators, conservators, photographers and computer specialists at The State Library of Victoria also contributed their expertise: Katrina Ben, Des Cowley, Ian Cox, Adrian Flint, Ross Genat, Jean Holland, Shelley Jamieson, Afsana Khan, Coralie McInnes, Monika McIntyre, Helen McPherson, Peter Mappin and Sarah Mason.

These detailed entries update the information in the earlier catalogues: K.V. Sinclair, Descriptive Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Western Manuscripts in Australia,Sydney, 1969, M. M. Manion and V. F. Vines, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Australian Collections, London, 1984, and B. Stocks and N. Morgan, eds, The Medieval Imagination: Illuminated Manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne, 2008. Our debt to these pioneering publications and dependence on them are acknowledged here.

Margaret Manion on behalf of the ARC team, October, 2013.