Book of Hours. Use of Rome

4to (c. 210 x 140mm.), a fragment of 17 leaves printed on vellum, 29 lines, gothic type, numerous metalcut illustrations and borders, all with contemporary hand-colour and illumination, including three large cuts, each leaf inset within a paper surround with a gold frame, modern crushed red morocco gilt in period style by L. Peeters of Antwerp, spine gilt in compartments, one cut excised from foot of one leaf

Goff H368; BMC viii 76; Bohatta 519; Macfarlane 204; M.B. Winn, "Guillaume Tardif's Hours for Charles VIII and Vérard's Grandes heures royales", Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance LVI (1994), 347-383

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
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Vérard published a series of "Grandes Heures" of various uses in the 1490s (Macfarlane, nos 202, 204-210, all dated c. 1490 by him). The illustrations are arranged in wide borders across the outside and the foot of the page with letterpress captions in French (printed sideways for the images at the foot of the page) containing further prayers. It is surmised that the prayers were composed by Guillaume Tardif, who had prepared a "petite volumes d'Heures" for Charles VIII.

The contents of this volume include all three leaves of the calendar, and the heading "Incipiunt hore beate marie virginis secundum usum Romae curie", usually found on the final verso of the first quire, and the leaf with the astronomical man and the chalice containing the blood of Christ. There are only three complete or near-complete copies recorded in institutions, in the British Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Huntington Library, and the Vershbow copy sold in 2013.