Book of hours : use of Rome : in Latin

Item Information

Title:
Book of hours : use of Rome : in Latin
Description:
Manuscript book of hours copied and illuminated in or near Brescia during the final quarter of the fifteenth century. A close connection to Brescia is attested by the inclusion in the calendar of numerous saints associated with the city, including Faustinus and Jovita, in red for 15 February and featured prominently in the Litany. Also Saints Honorius (in red for 24 April), Antigius (14 November), Titian (3 March), and Gaudiosus (8 March). Additionally, Saint Latinus of Brescia is added in a later hand to his feast day on 24 March, while Nones in the Hours of the Virgin opens with an historiated initial showing him with his leg wound. De Ricci dates the manuscript to 1490.
Creator:
Catholic Church
Former owner:
Hawkins, Rush C. (Rush Christopher), 1831-1920
Former owner:
White, William Augustus, 1843-1927
Former owner:
Zucchi, Antonio, active 19th century
Auctioneer:
George A. Leavitt & Co.
Auctioneer:
Sotheby's (Firm)
Former owner:
Francis Edwards (Firm)
Former owner:
Middle Hill Rare Books & Manuscripts AB (Stockholm, Sweden)
Former owner:
Stephen Butler Rare Books & Manuscripts
Date:
[1475?–1499?]
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Illuminations
Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)
Manuscripts, Medieval
Gothic scripts
Inscriptions
Books of hours
devotional calendars
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts
Places:
Italy > Lombardy (region) > Brescia (province) > Brescia
Extent:
183 leaves : parchment, ill. ; 96 x 70 (55 x 40) mm bound to 10 cm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/gb19nt31r
Terms of Use:
No Copyright - United States icon No Copyright - United States
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
[Italy]
Language:
Latin
Table of Contents:
1. fol. 1-12: calendar, double graded in black and red.
2. fol. 13-25: Matins (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome)
3. fol. 25v-38: Lauds (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome)
4. fol. 38v-43: Prime (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome)
5. fol. 43v-47v: Terce (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome)
6. fol. 47v-51: Sext (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome)
7. fol. 51-54v: Nones (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome)
8. fol. 55-63: Vespers (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome)
9. fol. 63v-88v: Compline (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome)
10. fol. 88v: Mass of the Virgin.
11. fol. 89-102v: Seven penetential psalms.
12. fol. 103-114v: Litany and prayers.
13. fol. 115-164v: Office of the dead.
14. fol. 165-169v: Hours of the cross.
15. fol. 170-174: Hours of the Holy Spirit.
16. fol. 174v: blank.
17. fol. 175-176: later addition: indulgence, in Italian.
18. fol. 176v-183: later addition: prayers and Litany of the Virgin.
19. fol. 183v: blank.
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title devised by cataloger; place of production based on script and on the inclusion of numerous saints associated with Brescia.
Origin: Created in or around Brescia during the late 15th-century.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: With one Antonio Zucchi from at least 1844 through 1857. In a note at front, in Italian, Zucchi describes how he discovered the book among his grandmother's belongings; he also records the date of his wife's death (3 October 1857) in a note on the same leaf. On the front pastedown, a 19th-century seller's description, in English, of the present volume, describing it as a missal. In the collection of Rush C. Hawkins of New York and offered by George A. Leavitt & Co. in the sale of the Hawkins library (21-26 March 1887, lot 1537 - see ticket on front pastedown). Thereafter to William Augustus White of Brooklyn (1843-1927) and later bequeathed to his daughter, Frances White Emerson (1869-1957). Sold with Emerson's books at Sotheby's, New York, on 19 May 1958, lot 99 to Francis Edwards, Ltd. and sold by Edwards in August of 1959 to a private collector in Sweden; thereafter by descent, then sold to Middle Hill Rare Books of Stockholm, Sweden, in 2024.
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Purchased in from Stephen Butler Rare Books and Manuscripts in 2025.
Purchase; Stephen Butler Rare Books & Manuscripts; 202502182025.18.
Notes (citation):
Ricci, S. de. Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada,I, 1055, no.2
Notes (object):
Collation: Parchment, fol. i (paper) + 183 + i (paper) ; I¹² II-IX¹⁰ X¹⁰(-7-10), with loss of text of the Mass of the Virgin) XI-XII¹⁰ XIII⁶ XIV-XIX¹⁰ XX¹⁰(-1, first leaf a cancelled blank); horizontal catchwords at the end of each quire. Modern pencil foliation in upper margin of each recto, those numbers used here for reference.
Layout: Single column, 14 lines, bounding and writing lines in plummet.
Script: Written in black and red ink in a southern gothic textualis. Single-line initials rubricated in blue and red with penwork in contrasting colors.
Decoration: Thirteen large historiated initials, most terminating in acanthus leaves, bezants, and scrolled borders with birds, flowers, and animals, as follows: 1. fol.13, The Annunciation, with a full-page gilt architectural border on dark blue ground with gold scrolls. Putti in the upper and lower margins, the latter in front of a mountainous landscape and holding a blank escutcheon. 2. fol. 25v, Paul holding sword and book. 3. fol. 38v, Peter with keys and a book. 4. fol. 43v, St. George killing the dragon. 5. fol. 47v, Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. 6. fol. 51, St. Latinus of Brescia, seated, with wounded leg. 7. fol. 55, God the father. 8. fol. 63v, Mary Magdalene with flowing hair. 9. fol. 88v, Virgin and Child. 10. fol. 89, King David. 11. fol. 115, Death as a skeleton with scythe. 12. fol. 165, The Crucifixion. 13. fol. 170, Pentecost. Two-line initials in gold on grounds of burgundy, green, and blue, throughout.
Binding: Bound in ca. 16th-century red goatskin panelled in gilt. Panels enclose stars and swirling foliage around a central gilt stamp of the Virgin and Child?, now heavily rubbed (front cover) and the Crucifixion (back cover). Two original metal clasps, with straps renewed.
Notes (language):
In Latin.
Identifier:
06_01_019768
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med.303
Barcode:
39999092211018