Beschreibung:

THE PECKOVER HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
THE PECKOVER HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Lyonnais?, c.1490]210 x 155mm. 178 leaves, collation: 1 8 , 2 4 , 3 7 (of 8, lacking viii), 4 4 , 5 8 -9 8 , 10 3 (of 4, lacking ii), 11 7 (of 8, lacking viii), 12 8 -13 8 , 14 7 (of 8, lacking viii), 15 8 , 16 7 (of 8, lacking i), 17 8 -24 8 , 25 3 (of 4, lacking blank iv), catchwords survive in most gatherings, 14 lines in brown ink (the calendar in lines alternately blue, red, or gold) in two sizes in a fine gothic bookhand between two verticals and 15 horizontals ruled in pale red ink, justification: 100 x 75mm, rubrics in red, line-endings with designs in white on a blue ground and liquid gold on a red ground, one-line initials alternately gold on a square field of red with liquid gold ornament or blue with white ornament, or painted with foliate forms on a field of burnished gold, similar, more elaborate two-line initials, FULL-PAGE BORDERS ON EVERY PAGE except the very last page and those with large miniatures, consisting of stylized and semi-naturalistic acanthus and other plants and flowers, OFTEN WITH HIGHLY NATURALISTIC INSECTS, BIRDS AND HUMANS, the calendar with TWENTY-FOUR ROUNDELS CONTAINING THE OCCUPATIONS OF THE MONTHS AND ZODIAC SYMBOLS set within four-sided borders, SIXTEEN SMALL MINIATURES typically six or seven lines high surrounded by full borders, and TEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES, eight of them in simple gold frames bearing the first few words of the text in 'Colombe-capitals' (with the 'N' usually back-to-front), the two others engulfing four lines of text and an historiated initial, TWO LARGE AND THREE SMALL HISTORIATED INITIALS (lacking four leaves, one probably blank, the others probably with three small miniatures, some miniatures slightly worn or with small losses of pigment, especially the first, occasional minor offsetting). 18th-century French brown morocco gilt with floral and foliate tools, pale blue silk(?) doublures, gilt edges, several silk bookmarks of various colours, added (London, 1830) chased silver clasp with the arms of James Dallaway (corners bumped, sides somewhat rubbed, first and last quires very slightly loose). Blue solander box. CONTAINING SOME OF THE FINEST MINIATURES BY JEAN COLOMBE REFLECTING HIS WORK ON THE TRèS RICHES HEURES PROVENANCE: 1. Apparently written and illuminated in the Lyonnais, or perhaps begun there and finished in Bourges (see below). The prayers use masculine grammatical forms, but one historiated initial depicts a lady at her prayers. 2. Heraldry has been added to the shield held by a bear in two of the borders (f.29r-v); it consists of a medieval merchant's mark flanked by a hunting-horn, a flower, and an ampersand, perhaps a rebus for a name such as 'Cornefleur'. Lyon was one of the most important trading-centres in France at the end of the 15th century. 3. Pierre-Barthlemy Partarrieu (d.1817), Conseilleur at the Court of Bordeaux, who behaved so eccentrically that Napoleon judged it necessary to revoke his position in 1808 (on whom see J. Delpit, 'Un collectionneur bordelais: Pierre-Barthlemy Partarrieu', Tablettes des bibliophiles de Guyenne , 3 (1878), pp.243-308); with a printed slip 'Partarieu [sic], Juge à la Cour de justice criminelle' stuck to f.ii verso. 4. Robert Heathcote (see below), who sold his library to John Dent, who discarded the duplicates in two sales in 1808 and the bulk of his library in 1827 (S. de Ricci, English Collectors of Books and Manuscripts , p.99). 5. Rev. James Dallaway, F.S.A. (1763-1834) (on whom see F.W. Steer, 'Memoir and Letters of James Dallaway, 1763-1834', Surrey Archaeological Collections , 103 (1965), pp.1-48), and F.B. Benger, 'James Dallaway, Antiquary, Vicar of Leatherhead 1803-1834', Proceedings of the Leatherhead and District Local History Society , 2, no 7 (1963), pp.214-9, with a reproduction of the present manuscript): barry of six argent and azure on a chief gules two pallets or overall a tilting spear bendwise prope