Book of Hours
Hours of the Virgin, matins
F-je7d
Assembled from observations by Rebecka Lindau, Head, The John Miller Burnam Classics Library, University of Cincinnati with Yo Shionoya, Special Projects Student Assistant, integrating information from the seller.
General Information
From the sales description: Circa 1475. Book of Hours leaf on vellum in Latin, done in Italy with later 'embellishments’ (St.Francis and large S initial). Size 4.7 x 3.1.
Original Condition
The is the outermost bifolium in a gathering, as evinced by the fact that the outwards side contains the beginning of the Hours of the Virgin and a catchword.
Current Condition
Book Decoration and Musical Notation
The large illuminations (of a sainted monk and an initial S) were added considerably later, and their relationship to the text is tenuous, other than the text perhaps "inspired" the "illuminator" to cover the text with something designed to increase the sale price. Since the illuminations cover the same part of the parchment, and that parchment was on the first page of a quire, and likely of the original book, they could have been added also to conceal an identifying feature.
History
Purchased from Tuscan Books (Rudolph Hofmeister), Escondido, California.