Book of hours, Lyon, 1499, a substantial fragment printed on vellum, coloured, later calf

BOOK OF HOURS. USE OF ROME

Officium beate Marie virginis ad usum Romane ecclesie. Lyon: [Jacobinus Suigus and Nicolaus de Benedictis for] Boninus de Boninis, 20 March 1499

8vo (150 x 95mm.), PRINTED ON VELLUM, a substantial fragment of 57 leaves (of 176), [a-c] A-T⁸, 18-21 lines, gothic type, metalcut borders with early hand-colouring, title-page and the start of the Office of the Dead with early colour within gilt frames (somewhat rubbed), initials supplied in red and blue (some with penwork decoration), nineteenth-century calf panel stamped in period style, gilt edges, slipcase, lacking 119 leaves ([b8], [c7-8], A1-I7, O1-T5), cut slightly close; sold as a fragment not subject to return

An unusual imprint for a book of hours, one of only a handful of editions produced in Lyon. Boninus de Boninis had printed books in various European cities, in particular Venice, Brescia and Verona, and by the time he reached Lyon he was also an informer for the Venetian state. While in Verona in 1481, Bonino printed a miniature edition of the Office of the Virgin, which was the first illustrated edition to be printed in Italy and survives in just one fragmentary copy.

The printers of this edition, the Milanese Suigus and the Catalan de Benedictis, had previously worked together in Turin and produced books in Lyon from 1496 until March 1499, and Suigus had been an itinerant printer in north west Italy from 1484. Bonino subsequently reissued this work in May 1499 with slight variations, and again in 1501 in a smaller type. By 1502 Bonino was in Treviso where he was made a deacon and his printing and publishing activities ceased.

The illustrations for this book of hours are different from the usual Paris ateliers, unsurprisingly seeming more Italian in appearance. The title-page contains the Annunciation, and leaf I8 the funeral scene at the start of the Office of the Dead; the borders contain historiated borders of the saints, the life of Christ and the twelve Sibyls. The leaves I8-N8 contain borders with the Dance of Death, which are complete in this copy. The influence of these illustrations on contemporary Italian manuscript illumination has been discussed by Cristina Dondi (Printed Books of Hours from Fifteenth-century Italy, 2016).

LITERATURE:

Bohatta, Officium BMV 99; Fairfax Murray, French 277; ISTC ih00399360; Lacombe 500

PROVENANCE:

"A small token of a sweet anniversary, 17 June 1868, Auguste", inscription on flyleaf

Please note: Condition 11 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.

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