NEW BOOK: Books of Hours Reconsidered
Book of Hours were private prayer books, which filled the need for the medieval lay public in search of a devotional life akin to what clerics experienced but without taking actual vows. The contents grew out of the psalter but included a mixed variety of other types of material like, hymns, lessons, biblical readings, calendars etc. As a minimum though, they contained the “little Hours” of the Virgin, the gradual Psalms, the Penitential psalms, Litany of the saints and the Office of the Dead. Most Books of Hours, however, were also used for personal notations and scribbles marking births, marriages, deaths etc. Many were passed down through generations.
The heyday of the Book of Hours lasted from c. 1240, when the first book of Hours began to appear and until the counter-reformation, when Pope Pius V prohibited the use of all existing Books of Hours. During this period, nearly every European family of certain means owned one, while royals, nobles and wealthy merchants might own libraries full of them. Some of them were modest, made by near-factories, while others were simply unique masterpieces produced by accomplished artists.
In view of this it has become commonplace to describe the Book of Hours as the “medieval bestseller” par excellence. However, in a new book to be published in November 2013 one author cautions against this language considering it as misleading, as use and character differed from one geographical location to another. It is excatly this diversity, which is stresses in this new collection of essays, which provides essential studies on the production, use, and evolution of the Books of Hours in a wide variety of contexts.
CONTENTS:
Sandra Hindman, Introduction: State of the Question
I. The Prehistory of Books of Hours and the Growth of their Modern-Day Appreciation:
Adelaide Bennett, Some Perspectives on the Origins of Books of Hours in France in the Thirteenth-Century
Christopher de Hamel, Books of Hours and the Art Market from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day
Roger S. Wieck, The Hours of Catherine of Cleves: The Manuscript that Changed the World
II. Centers of Production: England, Germany, and Italy:
Nigel Morgan, English Books of Hours c. 1240 – c.1480
Jeffrey Hamburger, Another Perspective: The Book of Hours in Germany
Francesca Manzari, Italian Books of Hours and Prayer Books in the Fourteenth Century
III. Towards a History of Use:
Gregory T. Clark, Beyond Saints: Variant Litany Readings and the Localization of Late Medieval Manuscript Books of Hours, the Case of the d’Orges Hours
Dr. Anne Korteweg, Books of Hours from the Northern Netherlands Reconsidered: the Uses of Utrecht and Windesheim and Geert Grote’s Role as a Translator
IV. Problems of Workshops:
Marc Gil, Picardie-Hainaut: Quelques remarques sur les livres d’heures produits par le Maitre de Rambures et Simon Marmion
Anne Margreet W. As-Vijvers, Manuscript Production in a Carmelite Convent: The Case of Cornelia von Wulfskercke
Marie-Françoise Damongeot, La circulation des modèles iconographiques: l’exemple d’un livre d’Heures parisien (BnF MS N.a.l.3115)
Dr Mara Hofmann, Matteo de Milano; Between Ferrara and Rome – The Hours of Dionora of Urbino (London, British Library, Yates Thompson 7)
Saskia von Bergen, The Use of Stamps in Bruges Book Production
Eberhard König, Twins in Attribution: A New Fashion or a Means to Better Understanding? The Case of the Grandes Heures de Rohan
V. Cycles of Illustration and Their Texts:
James Marrow, Superimposed Cycles of Marginal Illustration in Late Medieval Horae: Function and History
Dr. Klara H. Broekhuijsen, Decoration Programmes in Books of Hours by the Masters of the Dark Eyes
Bronwyn Stocks, Devotional Emphasis and Distinctive Variations in the Illustration of the Hours of the Virgin in Italian Books of Hours
VI. Books of Hours in the Age of Print:
Todor Petev, A Group of Hybrid Manuscripts Illustrated with Woodcuts from Antwerp
Thierry Claerr, L’édition d’Heures du 21 avril 1505, une œuvre charnière dans la production de Thielman Kerver?
Ariane Bergeron-Foote, De la fortune de quatre bois gravés: de Paris 1519 à Rouen c. 1593
Elizabeth A.R. Brown, The Devotional Books of Claude Gouffier: The Morgan Hours (New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M. 538)
Mary and Richard Rouse, Post-Mortem Inventories as a Source for the Production of Manuscripts and Printed Books of Hours
Book of Hours Reconsidered.
By S. Hindman, J. Marrow (eds.)
In: Studies in Medieval and Early Renaissance Art History (HMSAH 72)
IV+532 p., 226 b/w ill. + 117 colour ill., 220 x 280 mm, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-905375-94-3
Languages: English, French
Retail price: approx. EUR 150,00 excl. tax
Harvey Miller 2013