Books of Hours and Their Owners

Thames and Hudson, London, 1978 reprint of 1977 first edition. Cloth, gilt cover device, large 8vo, 32 cm,. 192 pp, 89 illustrations, 72 in colour, facs. From the blurb: "Of all the precious illuminated manuscripts that survive from the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Books of Hours form the largest single category: the personal prayerbooks of a devout and status-conscious society. Their content come from the official service books of the Church, but they were not made under priestly control, and they therefore reveal a unique combination of sacred and secular imagery. No two are alike; every one, modest or magnificent, has something individual to tell us. John Harthan begins with a fresh and wide-ranging study of the background to Books of Hours, their making, their content, their decoration and their social and devotional meaning. There follows an anthology of over ninety manuscript pages, reproduced in full colour from thirty-four Books of Hours, with the author's descriptive, explanatory and historical notes on the books themselves and their owners. The examples represent a wide range of styles, dates and countries, and include little-known as well as famous examples. A final section describes and illustrates the development of the printed Book of Hours; for this 'late medieval best-seller' was as important to the early printers as it was to the scribes and illuminators. Books of Hours are not only works of art but cultural documents of their time. Throughout this book, emphasis has been placed on their personal and religious aspects. The Books of Hours considered here are so closely involved with the lives of notable individuals and families that they amount to a selective review of an age of European history, seen from an unusual and intimate viewpoint. Among the books illustrated are sequences of examples which reflect the lives and personalities of members of the great houses of Brittany, Burgundy and Anjou, as well as the long career of John, Duke of Berry, as a patron of the arts. Keeper until 1976 of the Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, John Harthan brings to his subject an imaginative concern with the people who owned and who created Books of Hours, and a deep familiarity with many of the superb manuscripts which he illustrates and describes. Slightly agetoned, otherwise Near Very Good in slightly chipped dustwrapper.