Illuminated Medieval Manuscript, Book of Hours Leaf. ca.1470

1470 Illuminated Medieval Manuscript, Book of Hours Leaf.

      France 1470 - Illuminated Medieval Manuscript, Book of Hours Leaf. ca.1470 Book of Hours, Use of Rome, France (Anjou), In Latin, On Vellum, ca. 1470. 11 rows of script in a gothic liturgical hand upon lines ruled in purple ink; capitals touched in yellow and/or rubrics; and burnished gold verse initials with black penwork and/or letters rubricated in blue with contrasting red penwork (approx. 123 x 82 mm.) Before moveable type, books were tediously but carefully written by hand, and such manuscripts were a product of the joint labors of more than scribes, but included vellum makers, painters, illuminators, and booksellers. From the evenly scrape calves’, goats’, or sheep skins in preparing the vellum for the gold, inks, and paint; to the leather work and binding of the pages; workshops existed to coordinate the complex work required to create such a valuable prize as a Book of Hours. A devotional codex could easily cost as much as a house (and at auction, more elaborate ones still do), but was worth the cost to the status and pious minded royalty and developing Medieval middle class. Manuscripts still comprised most books well into the last half of the 15th century, despite Gutenberg’s Bible in the 1450’s. Printed text and pictures would soon come to dominate mass media for the next five hundred years, but a remnant of those days before printing became widespread is presented here, a single leaf from a Book of Hours: Accompanied with certificate of Authenticity from the Christian Heritage Museum. [Attributes: First Edition; Soft Cover]