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Harley MS 2929

Record Id:

040-002048760

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048760

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0000c8

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2929

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Paris

Scope & Content:

Contents:

f. 1: Medieval parchment flyleaf with added inscriptions (see Provenance).

ff. 2r-13v: Calendar, in French.

ff. 14r-19r: Gospel readings.

ff. 19v-22r: 'Obsecro te'.

f. 23r: Added prayers in French, beginning 'Au despourueu ne me', 16th century.

f. 23v: Added beginning of the Hours of the Virgin, replacing the missing text, 17th century.

ff. 24r-68v: Hours of the Virgin (beginning imperfectly due to loss of a leaf).

ff. 69r-70v: Hours of the Cross (beginning imperfectly due to loss of a leaf).

ff. 71r-73v: Hours of the Holy Spirit.

ff. 74r-84r: Penitential Psalms.

ff. 84r-88v: Litany.

ff. 89r-124v: Office of the Dead.

ff. 124v-131v: Suffrages to the Trinity, St Michael, St Laurence, Sts Peter and Paul, St John the Baptist, St Nicholas, St Anne, St Catherine, St Mary Magdalene, St Margaret, St Sebastian, St Claude.

Decoration:

In the style of the Master of the Chronique scandaleuse.

5 large miniatures with large decorated initials and full foliate borders including birds and hybrid figures, in colours and gold: St John the Evangelist writing on Patmos (f. 14r); the Virgin and Child enthroned between musician angels (f. 19v); Pentecost (f. 71r); David slaying Goliath (f. 74r); Job on the dung heap (f. 89r).

2 large miniatures excised after ff. 23 (Matins of the Hours of the Virgin), 68 (Hours of the Cross).

15 small miniatures with three-sided foliate borders including birds and hybrid figures, in colours and gold: St Luke the Evangelist writing (f. 15v); St Matthew the Evangelist writing (f. 17r); St Mark the Evangelist writing (f. 18v); the Trinity (f. 124v); St Michael (f. 125r); St Laurence (f. 125v); Sts Peter and Paul (f. 126r); St John the Baptist (f. 126v); St Nicholas (f. 127r); St Anne (f. 127v); St Catherine (f. 128r); St Mary Magdalen (f. 128v); St Margaret (f. 129r); St Sebastian (f. 130r); St Claude (f. 130v).

7 large decorated initials, in colours and gold, for the Hours of the Virgin after Matins (ff. 40v, 48v, 52v, 55r, 58r, 60v, 65r).

Small initials and line-fillers in gold on red or brown grounds.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048760", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2929: Book of Hours, Use of Paris" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048760

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2929 : Book of Hours, Use of Paris

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2930]/040-002048760

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1485

End Date:

1515

Date Range:

c 1490-c 1510

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 160 x 110 mm (text space: 100 x 65 mm).

Foliation: ff. 131 (f. 1 is a medieval parchment flyleaf; + 1 paper flyleaf at the beginning and 1 medieval parchment flyleaf at the end).

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: Post-1600. Blind-tooled speckled brown leather; edges speckled in red and blue.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Paris, France.

Provenance:

Inscribed, 15th or 16th century: 'Heures a leusage de Paris' (f. 1r).

Inscribed, early 16th century: 'Ce Livre appartient a M. le Chevalier Larcher' (f. 1r) (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 216).

Added prayers in French, 16th century (f. 23r).

The excised beginning of the Hours of the Virgin inscribed on the preceding blank leaf, 17th-century (f. 23v).

David Fotherby (or Fotherbie), wine merchant at Stratford Langthorne, Essex: owned (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 155; Wright and Wright, Diary (1966), I, pp. 93, 101, 203).

Andrew Hay (d. 1754?), dealer: sold to Harley on 28 April 1721 (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 183; Wright and Wright, Diary (1966), I, pp. 93, 101, 203).

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '28 April 1721.' (f. 1r).

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), II, no. 2929.

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, pp. 93, 101, 203.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 155, 183, 216.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)