Add MS 63633

BOOK OF HOURS: of Rome Use; Italy, probably Rome; circa 1460-1470. Latin. The style of illumination suggests a Roman origin; Sts Silvester and Gregory (both papal saints) lead the confessors in the Litany. The rear pastedown carries a contents list (17th cent. hand?). Ff. 1-3 have been largely rewritten and redecorated, perhaps when the contents list was added, and linear borders in blue and green, with an inner border of gold, were added to each leaf. An arabic pagination was also added to the mid-heads of leaves, in blue within gold parentheses. Purchased at Sotheby's, 26 Nov. 1985, lot 126.

Vellum; ff. i+131. Sec. fol.: 'Rex magnus'. 100 x 65mm. Paper pastedowns, and flyleaf at front. Gatherings (13) of 10. Ruled (single bounding lines) in hard-point for single columns of 14-15 lines. Written space 60 x 39mm. Script is a humanistic book script (littera antiqua) by one scribe. Rubrics in pink. Catchwords at mid-foot. Early modern binding of black leather over thin wooden boards. Sewn on 3 cords (a distinctive, if not exclusively, Italian feature).

Contents:

1. ff. 1-69v. Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome.

2. ff. 70-88v. Penitential Psalms (incorporates item 3).

3. ff. 81-85 . Litany of the Saints.

4. ff. 89-127v. Office of the Dead.

5. ff. 127v-130v. Hours of the Cross.

Decoration consists of five 6-8 line major initials (ff. 1, 49v, 70, 89, 127v), gilded, with white-vine ornament upon coloured grounds bearing white stippling (that in colours on a gold ground on f. 1 being a replacement of 17th cent.?) with full or partial white-vine borders. The lower border of f. 1 carries a cartouche bearing an armorial device which is too badly rubbed to be identified. Similarly placed vignettes on ff. 70 and 89 carry King David at prayer and a skull respectively. The initial on f. 127v contains a gilded cross upon a hill, and is in pink upon a blue and gold ground. Six minor white-vine initials (mostly 6-line) in a similar style, but without borders (ff. 12v, 33, 38, 42, 45v, 57). 2-line minor initials throughout in epigraphic style, set within illusionistic panelled frames, the letter in the same colour as the frames and indicated by shading and highlighting. Litterae notabiliores consist of square capitals in alternate red and blue.