ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT - BOOK OF HOURS (DIOCESE OF UTRECHT)].

Hours of the Virgin (Use of Utrecht), preceded by a Calendar, and followed by the Hours of the Eternal Wisdom, the Hours of the Cross, the Hours of the Holy Ghost, the Penitential Psalms and Litany (Saint Cyril), Prayers on the Sacrament and other prayers, the Vigil of the Nine Lessons and St. Bernard's Prayer to our Lord].[Delft], ca. 1460/1480. 16.5 x 11 cm. Illuminated manuscript in Dutch, in nearly black ink on vellum (pricked and ruled, with 21 lines of text), with 7 large (mostly 8-line) and elaborately decorated duplex (red and blue) initials with full-frame (or in 1 case nearly full-frame) penwork decorations, flowers and birds (doves, peacock, pelicans), 3 of the birds accompanied by Latin quotations in scrolls, all liberally high

      - (203) ll.A beautifully decorated Book of Hours in a large and finely written textura hand, especially notable for the birds that appear in the marginal decoration of five of the seven large initials, three with pertinent Latin quotations from the Bible and elsewhere, one for example referring to the pelican reviving its young with its own blood (as depicted). Each of the seven large initials is executed in red and blue with white decoration, with the interior space filled with decoration in various colours and gold, the whole surrounded by red and blue pen-work decoration that also forms a frame around the page, mostly with additional floral and other decorations in various colours and gold. The birds and their nests and text scrolls are also executed in several colours and gold.The manuscript has no quire signatures or early foliation. It collates [i]4 [ii]-[xxv]8 [xxvi]8 (-[xxvi]8) = 203 ll., with the last leaf ([xxvi]7) pasted down and two blank vellum endleaves added before the first quire. The text block measures 106 x 66 mm and the margins 20-36 mm. The recent pencilled folio numbers run from 1 to 199, with three errors ([106 bis], 143 [bis] and 147 [bis]) making 202 leaves not counting the endleaves and integral pastedown. The original text ends on fol. 198, but an early user has written several short prayers, etc. on fols. 198v-199v, with the motto "niet sonder godt" at the foot of 199v. The content runs as follows (according to the recent folio numbers):fols. 1-12v: [Calendar].fols. 13-45v: die ghetiden van onser liever vrouwe(n) marie(n).fols. 46-65v: die getide(n) va(n)der ewigher wijsheit.fols. 66-91v: dat langhe cruys ghetide.fols. 92-115v: die ghetide(n) van de(n) heilighen gheest.fols. 116-133: die seve(n) psalme(n) va(n) Here penitenae(n)including the litany (die letanien) beginning on fol. 123v.fols. 133v-146v: ghebet. heilighe sacramentwith other prayers beginning on fol. 137.fols. 147-182v: die langhe vigelie van neghen lessen.fols. 183-198: Sinte barnaerts eenlike spreken tot onsen here.In the calendar the standard saints for the Bischopric of Utrecht are written in red, along with Jeroen (17 August) and Bavo (1 October), who are more specific to Holland, and Lambrecht (17 September). Although the specifically Delft Saints Hippolytus (13 August) and Ursula (21 October) are not in red, the style of decoration resembles that of Delft manuscripts ca. 1460-80 (Korteweg, et al., Kriezels, no. 33; Marrow, Golden Age, no. 58, the latter also with a peacock and scroll). The illumination therefore originates in Delft and the manuscript itself at least in South Holland.In addition to the motto of an early owner, the manuscript has several indications of its late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century provenance: the armorial bookplate of Robert Chambers (motto "Spero"), a clipping from an English sale catalogue and an ink stamp (at the foot of fol. 198v) of the "Southport Libraries." In very good condition, with the illumination, penwork and gold well preserved and with generous margins. The surface of the binding is badly rubbed, so that little of the blind tooling is visible, but the binding is structurally good. A beautiful illuminated Book of Hours, skilfully and extensively decorated with duplex initials, penwork, flowers and birds.