Book of Hours, Use of Utrecht, in Dutch, illuminated manuscript on paper and vellum [eastern Netherlands, c.1505]

242 leaves (plus 2 modern paper and 1 original vellum endleaves at front, and 2 original vellum and 2 modern paper endleaves at back), 144mm. by 104mm., wanting 6 leaves, else complete, collation: i¹ (a singleton once before the third gathering), ii¹², iii⁹ (i a singleton), iv-vii⁸, viii¹⁰, ix¹³ (ix wanting), x-xii⁸, xiii¹⁰ (xi and xii wanting), xiv⁸, xv¹⁰, xvi⁸, xvii⁹ (ii wanting), xviii-xix¹⁰, xx-xxi⁸, xxii¹⁰, xxiii⁸, xxiv¹⁰ (vi and xi wanting), xxv-xxviii⁸, 20-22 lines in brown ink in an angular late gothic bookhand (written space: 85-88mm. by 62mm.), capital letters touched in red, one-line initials and paragraph marks in red or blue, 2-line initials in variegated red or blue, 3- to 4-line initials in same with purple or red pen-flourishing and green and yellow infill, eleven very large initials in red and blue (fols.65r, 71r, 102r, 112r, 130r, 145r, 157r, 183r, 201r, 206r and 227r) with pen-flourishing in purple and red, the flourishing extending into the margins and picking out fleshy line-drawn acanthus leaves, the initials enclosing detailed line-drawn foliage on coloured grounds, one initial with coloured bezants with penwork in margin, one very large initial on the frontispiece, formed from scrolling blue acanthus leaves touched with white penwork, enclosing a large sprig of multi-coloured acanthus-leaves, all on burnished gold ground with angular edges, with full border with coloured acanthus, flowers, strawberries and bezants on blank vellum, enclosing a bird and a monkey riding a dog, all facing a full-page miniature with the Throne of Grace, within a hand-coloured printed border of acanthus, flowers and strawberries, enclosing a monkey, a deer and a bird, watermark a close variant of Briquet no.12855 (recorded Sens, 1505), numerous contemporary leather ‘bookmark’ tags, some vellum leaves cockled, slight spots and stains, else in good condition, contemporary blind-stamped brown leather binding over wooden boards, with tools of the Virgin and Child, the Agnus Dei, flowerheads and fleur-de-lys within chevrons, scuffs and small areas of loss to leather at edges, spine rebacked, clasps missing

1. Written c.1505 (see above), most probably for use by Sister Elizabeth of Carnisse (now in Barendrecht, south of Rotterdam) in a community of Franciscan nuns in the eastern Netherlands: her contemporary ownership inscription, “Dit boeck hoert suster lysebet van karnehe toe …” on an endleaf at back (she is perhaps also the “suster” in the erased and heavily inked out ownership inscription on a front endleaf); local saints in the Calendar (such as Lutger, born in Utrecht, feast on 26 March, and Hubert, bishop of Liège, 3 November), as well as St Francis “onse vader” in red on 4 July.

2. Charles Porterfield Krauth (1823-83) of Philadelphia, Lutheran pastor and editor of The Lutheran, a theological journal; perhaps acquired in Germany: the name “T.L. Hartung” in nineteenth-century pencil on front endleaf, and printed seller’s description in German of same date pasted to endleaf at back; presented by Krauth to the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, in 1883 (their MS.3478: inscription at foot of first leaf of Calendar), and sold here on their behalf.

text

This is an appealing Dutch Book of Hours, in the fourteenth-century translation of Geert Groote. It contains: a Calendar (fol.2r); the Hours of the Trinity (fol.15r); Psalms (fol.71r); the Hours of the sweet name of Jesus (fol.102r); the Hours of the Holy Spirit (fol.112r); the Hours of Maundy Thursday (fol.145r); the Hours of the Virgin Mary (fol.183r); and the Hours of All Saints (fol.227r).

This manuscript has been published in Leaves of Gold. Manuscript Illumination from Philadelphia Collections, 2001, no. 29; and is also recorded in the online version of the ‘Luxury Bound: A corpus of manuscripts illustrated in the Netherlands (1400-1550)’ database, no.2967.