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Guide To Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library
HM 1153View all images for this manuscript BOOK OF HOURS, use of Sens (?)
1. ff. 1-12v: Full calendar in French in red and black; included are the feasts of Sabinianus martyr (24 January), Maturinus (10 May), Columba (28 July) and Sabinianus
bishop and martyr (19 October, in red).
2. ff. 13-15 [f. 13, blank]: Pericope from John [1, 1-14], and the prayer, Protector in te sperantium…[Perdrizet, 25].
3. ff. 15v-63: Hours of the Virgin, possibly in the use of Sens, but with the antiphon to the psalms at vespers “Beatam me dicent omnes generationes…”
4. ff. 63v-66: Short hours of the Cross.
5. ff. 66v-69: Short hours of the Holy Spirit.
6. ff. 69v-84: Penitential psalms and litany, including Sabinianus, Potentianus and Maturinus.
7. ff. 84v-106: Office of the Dead, 3 lessons.
8. ff. 106v-115v: Obsecro te…[masculine forms; Leroquais, LH 2:346]; suffrages of Michael, James, Andrew, George, Adrian, Martin, Nicholas, Eligius, Maturinus, Anne, Mary Magdalene, Catherine
of Alexandria.
Parchment, ff. ii (modern parchment, with silk glued to the recto of the first) + 115 + ii (modern parchment with silk glued to the verso
of the second); 155 × 108 (90 × 60) mm. 18 24 38(+1, f. 13) 48(+4, f. 25) 58 66(+1, f. 39 and 6, f. 44) 78(+1, f. 47 and 6, f. 52) 88(+3, f. 59) 94 10-138 148(+6, f. 107) 156(-6).
17 long lines, ruled in pale red ink. Written in a bâtarde script.
Fourteen full page miniatures, of which 6 are original (with some retouching), and the others are later additions by Caleb W. Wing (corrected form of the name kindly communicated to us by Janet Backhouse); see J. Backhouse, “A Victorian Connoisseur and his manuscripts: The Tale of Mr. Jarman and Mr. Wing,” British Museum Quarterly 32 (1967-68) 76-92. The original miniatures are part of the quire structure with text on the reverse side and they introduce major divisions
(except for that on f. 34v, for prime); the additions are singletons, blank on the reverse; they are placed at minor divisions
(Gospel of John; internal hours of the Virgin, except for prime; Obsecro te) and they interrupt the flow of the text. A number
of the bracket borders which surround the facing text at these divisions were also added at the later time. The miniatures
and the borders on opposing text pages are: ff. 13v-14 (Gospel of John), John on Patmos, both the miniature and the facing
border are added; ff. 15v-16 (Hours of the Virgin), Annunciation, the miniature original with possible retouching on the faces,
the facing border added; ff. 24v-25 (Lauds), Visitation, the facing border is original, the miniature added; ff. 34v-35 (Prime),
Nativity, the miniature original with possible retouching of the faces, the facing border added; ff. 39v-40 (Terce), Annunciation to the shepherds, both the miniature and the facing border are added;
ff. 43v-44 (Sext), Adoration of the Magi, the facing border is original, the miniature added; ff. 47v-48 (None), Presentation
in the temple, both the miniature and the facing border are added; ff. 51v-52 (Vespers), Flight into Egypt, the facing border
is original, the miniature added; ff. 58v-59 (Compline), Massacre of the Innocents, the facing border is original, the miniature
added; ff. 63v-64 (Hours of the Cross), Crucifixion, the miniature is original, the facing border added; ff. 66v-67 (Hours
of the Holy Spirit), Pentecost, the miniature is original, the facing border added; ff. 69v-70 (Penitential psalms), Last
Judgment, the miniature is original, the facing border added; ff. 84v-85 (Office of the Dead), Funeral in a church, the miniature
is original, the facing border added; ff. 106v-107 (Obsecro te), Coronation of the Virgin, the facing border is original,
the miniature added.
Major initials, 5- or 4-line, in shaded pink or blue, with flowers on a gold infilling, the whole against a shaded ground
of the other color; or, more commonly, as a shaded white ribbon with white flowers or leaves on the gold infilling, the whole
set against a square of gold-patterned red. 2- and 1-line initials, in painted gold against alternating brown, blue or red
square grounds; line fillers in these colors or as gold logs. Rubrics in red.
Bound, s. XIX, in deep purple velvet with 2 silver-gilt fore edge clasps, closing from bottom to top; grey silk linings; gauffered gilt
edges; HM 1161 and HM 1175 with similar binding.
Written in the second half of the fifteenth century in France, possibly for use in the diocese of Sens, given the liturgical usage (?), and the saints of the calendar and litany.
Possibly lot 25 in the sale of John Boykett Jarman (d. 1864), Sotheby’s, 13 June 1864 to de Bure, where it is said to be Flemish; Sir Frederic Madden’s annotated copy, however, corrects the origin of lot 25 to French.1 French sale catalogue slip, n. 200 (pasted to f. i verso and dated by De Ricci “c.1885”) describes the book as containing
14 miniatures, some slightly retouched, and with its present binding, which is characteristic of Jarman-owned books. Belonged
to Robert Hoe; Grolier Club (1892) n. 67; Cat. (1909) pp. 73-74; his sale, Anderson, New York, 1912, pt. III, n. 2065 with plate of f. 63v, to G. D. Smith.
Precise source and date of acquisition by Henry E. Huntington unknown.
Bibliography: De Ricci, 99.France, s. XV2 Notes1 We thank Janet Backhouse for this information; the annotated catalogue is in the reference library of the Department of
Manuscripts, British Library.
Abbreviations
C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Copyright 1989.
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California. Electronic version encoded by Sharon K, Goetz, 2003. All rights to the cataloguing and images in Digital Scriptorium reside with the contributing institutions. |