Book of Hours printed and hand illuminated vellum leaf in Latin and late medieval French, Paris, circa 1520
Scope and Contents
The leaf is from the Hours of the Cross at Vespers. It includes the hymn "De cruce deponitur." The Latin text of the hymn begins with the blue initial "D" and the French with the red "H."
De cruce deponitur hora vespertina.
Fortitudo latuit in mente divina,
talem mortem subiit vitae medicina.
Heu, corona gloriae iacuit supina.
A poetic English translation reads:
At the hour of eventide Christ from his cross was ta'en,
In whose soul his fortitude did covertly remain.
Such a death vouchsafed to take of life the medicine sound:
Glory's crown alas the while lay grovelling on the ground.
Information derived from dealer description.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1520
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is located at the Loyola Notre Dame Library. Contact Archives and Special Collections for more information. This collection is open for research.
Biographical / Historical
Origin: Paris, France
This larger than normal leaf is from the transitional period when the production of Books of Hours was moving from manuscript to printing from movable type. To mimic the appearance of manuscript works, they were sometimes printed on vellum and had hand-painted illuminated initials added to the printed page. Even the earliest Books of Hours included some French—often rubrics to prayers—but in the era of print, the vernacular steadily gained more space in Books of Hours. Eventually, printed Books of Hours evolved into a Latin-French hybrid, as this example.
Information derived from dealer description.
Extent
From the Collection: 0.58 Cubic Feet (2 flat boxes)
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
From the Collection: French
From the Collection: Latin
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Littera Scripta in 2021.
Physical Description
Size: Leaf: approx. 200x140 mm. Text and illuminated area: approx. 160x115 mm.
Verso: 32 lines of text in French printed in red and black in a lettre bâtarde typeface on red-ruled vellum. In a smaller column beside the French is the parallel text in Latin printed in a rounded gothic font. Many hand illuminated initials in liquid gold on alternating blue and red grounds.
Recto: As Verso.
Information derived from dealer description.
Repository Details
Part of the Loyola Notre Dame Library Archives and Special Collections Repository