Book of Hours (Use of Rome). Paris: Simon Vostre, c. 1515. In Latin and French, imprint on parchment.
Books of Hours were the “medieval best seller,” with more medieval Books of Hours surviving than books in any other genre. They are books of prayer, derived from the Psalter and adjusted for the secular laity. Manuscript Books of Hours first appeared in the beginning of the thirteenth century. The genre continued to remain popular after the advent of printing in western Europe (c. 1450), with many printed editions produced in the decades before and after 1500. Printed Books of Hours followed the content, layout, and use of the medieval illuminated Book of Hours. In a Printed Book of Hours, type is used to mimic handwriting and hand painted miniatures are replaced with metalcuts with traditional iconography. The new printing technology made Books of Hours available to a broader audience and the middle class were one of the main audiences for these books.
Our Book of Hours was created c. 1515 by the Parisian printer Simon Vostre. Our edition contains twenty one large metalcuts, twenty nine small metalcuts, and several hundred border metalcuts. The woodcuts are based on the designs of two important illuminators, the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne of Brittany and Jean Pichore. There are also two full page images that derive from prints by Albrecht Dürer. The extensive border cycles contain biblical scenes, the “Dance of Death” sequence [pictured below], grotesques, and ornamental borders.
