Wombat's Scriptorium

A collection of images of Books of Hours.

 

This page is for images of Books of Hours, prayer books used by laymen for private devotion, containing prayers or meditations appropriate to certain hours of the day, days of the week, months or seasons. While some are plain, many were richly calligraphed and illuminated. The most famous Book of Hours and one of the most beautiful of all illuminated manuscripts is the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (The Very Grand Hours of the Duke of Berry), illuminated by the Limburg Brothers for Jean de Berry. By the 15th century, they were so popular that they outnumber almost all other illuminated manuscripts. Based on their sheer numbers and their use by laymen and not clergy, they merit their own section within the Scriptorium. The images in this Scriptorium are, unfortunately, almost exclusively of individual pages, not whole books.

You can see here thumbnails or excerpts of available items. Clicking on one will bring up a picture or series of pictures of that item. Some items have many pictures, some have only one, it's sort of hit and miss. The vast majority of images on this site were culled from eBay, and thus their authenticity and dating are not 100% guaranteed. I have relied on the information provided on eBay to give dates and descriptions. Anyone who has information or knowledge about the dating or location or anything else relating to these images, please send me email.

Images being more valuable than words, here they are:

Item 1A 1450 BoH, no location or other details given Item 2A French 1450 BoH, no other details given. A couple pretty illuminated capitals. Item 3A 1450 French calendar page, with an interesting capital (two letters).
Item 4Another 1450 French BoH, from the Rouen area, with much border illumination. Large images. Item 5Two pieces dating from 1513, no location or other details. Do not appear to match. Item 6A 16th Century BoH, no location or other details. All text, in French.
Item 7A 1300 French BoH, very very small. Includes a CoA. Item 8More 1450 French BoH. Nice penwork capitals. Item 9a 15th Century BoH from, of course, France. Pretty line fillers.
Item 10A nearly complete 16th Century BoH. Rather tiny. No other details. Item 11Yet another 1450 French BoH. This pretty wolf-like illumination is in the border of the page.  
     

 

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Created on Tuesday, July 10, 2001
Last Modified on Monday, October 1, 2001