Fragmentarium

Book of Hours (Use of Paris), "The Hours of St. Alexis" – Virtual Reconstruction

Parchment · 41 leaves · 1450 – 1475 CE · France (Northern) · 195 x 142 (85 x 62) mm

F-26sq

[sine loco], codices restituti,

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Language
Latin

Reconstruction Summary

A fifteenth-century Book of Hours known as the St. Alexis Hours. Written in Northern France in the third quarter of the fifteenth century, Use of Paris indicated by the Calendar and the responsories of the Office of the Dead. The presence of extensive illustrative cycles for the Lives of St. Alexis and of St. Catherine of Alexandria suggest that the manuscript may have been made for a married couple named Alexis and Catherine. Full borders of acanthus and rinceaux in gold and colors with birds, plants, trees, and hybrids. One- to -three-line initials throughout, many historiated with portraits. Roundel miniature in the outer central margin of each recto and verso illustrating several different narratives: Calendar: Labors of the Month (r) and Zodiac (v); Gospel Readings: Evangelist portraits and Biblical scenes; Marian prayers: Scenes from the Life of the Virgin and other Biblical scenes; Hours of the Virgin: Scenes from the Life of St. Catherine of Alexandria; Penitential Psalms and Office of the Dead: Scenes from the Life of St. Alexis. When complete, said to have been owned by Erza Clark Stillman (1907-95), New York, NY. Likely broken by Bruce Ferrini in the 1980s. Resequenced by students in Lisa Fagin Davis' Fall 2025 Simmons University School of Library and Information Science (Boston, Massachusetts) course, "The Medieval Manuscript: from Charlemagne to Gutenberg" (LIS 464): Téa Belog, Clayton Bessire, Laken Bonatch, Michael Borelli, Oscar Corkey, Juliana Cuomo, Regan Doyle, Sarah Flynn, Shaelyn Frost, Jennifer Giri, Nico Griner, Marion Hamilton, Melinda Howard, Laura Kiely, Bailey Kirkpatrick, Julia Lee, Sarah Leveille, Emily Lewis, Theo Mandell, Liv Murphy, Annika Our, Caleb Ritter, Audrey Stewart, Tara Theaker, and Page Wheeler.

(Lisa Fagin Davis)

Scholarly description(s)