Book of Hours, Use of Rome, in Latin and Catalan [northern Spain, c.1450]

c.155×110mm, vellum, i+141+i (medieval flyleaves), COMPLETE, collation: i8, ii6, iii–xiv10, xv10-1 (9th cancelled), 16 lines (c.90×63mm), vertical catchwords, 3 LARGE FOLIATE INITIALS WITH FULL BORDERS (ff.14r, 74r, 112r), one SIX-LINE INITIAL WITH A DRAGON (f.67v), 12 five-line initials in burnished gold with flourishing, and numerous smaller illuminated initials, some initials smudged, some worming and staining, bound in 17th(?)-century blind-stamped black leather over wooden boards, defective

Text

Calendar (f.1r); Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome (‘Aci comença lo offici de la verge madona sancta Maria edi reu tot aci come se çequeys’) (f.14r), with Lauds (f.23r), Prime (f.33r), Terce (f.37r), Sext (f.39v), None (f.42r), Vespers (f.44v), Compline (f.49v), and variants for different liturgical seasons (f.53r) and different days of the week (f.56v); Mass of the Virgin (‘Aci comença la missa de la verge Maria’) (f.67v); Seven Joys of the Virgin (‘Aci acomençan les set gots … ’) (f.71v); Office of the Dead, with Vespers (f.74r), Matins (f.80r), Lauds (f.101r); Penitential Psalms (f.112r), litany (f.121v), petitions, and 6 collects; Hours of the Cross (‘Aci acomença lo ofici de la vera creu …’) (f.129r) and of the Holy Spirit (‘... lo ofici del sant sperit …’) (f.131v); Gospel extracts (f.135r); Athanasian Creed (f.138v).

Provenance

(1) Written on the Spanish-speaking side of the Spanish-French border, with many rubrics in Catalan; the sparse calendar includes Honoratus of Arles (16 Jan.), Quiteria of Gascony (22 May), and Louis of Toulouse (19 Aug.). (2) Francesco Torrijos y Mateo, given by him to his brother Juan Peny according to a 17th(?)-century inscription: ‘Hunc librum dedit mihi frater meus Franciscus Torrijos et Mateo qui paule post introient in religione monacale Cartagiensii Beatae Mariae conceptionis Cesar August…(?), quis permanebit a diem Sancti Marti usque ad diem undecimam(?) mensis septembris q qua(?) transivit ad melioram vitam’ signed Juan Peny de la Naga’ (f.141v). (3) Thomas W. Ludlow, of Cottage Lawn, Yonkers (the area was later named Ludlow, after his family), New York, bought at Zaragoza on 27 July 1892, for 200 pesetas, according to an inscription on the back pastedown (not in de Ricci, Census). (4) Priv. coll., Pennsylvania.

Spanish Books of Hours are very rare; the Schoenberg database records none on the market since the sale in our rooms, 4 December 2007, lot 61, although the Hours of Dona Violanta contained some Spanish texts and inserted miniatures (sale in our rooms, 7 July 2015, lot 80).