ii (paper) + i (contemporary parchment) + 192 + iv (paper) folios on parchment, modern foliation in pencil, 1-192, complete (collation [manuscript, ff. 1-23v:] i6 ii4[structure uncertain, 1 and 3, ff. 7 and 9, a bifolium, with 2, f. 8 inserted between them, and 4, f. 10, also single] iii8 [+2, a single illuminated leaf, f. 12, inserted] iv4; imprint, ff. 24-144v, now quires v-xix: a8 [+1, a single illuminated leaf, f. 24, inserted] b-p8 [imprint, second series of signatures, ff. 145-176, now quires xx-xxiii] [a]-c8 d8 [last verso originally left blank now used for the first manuscript text]; manuscript, ff. 176v-192v: xxiv-xxv8), manuscript sections (ff. 1-23v, 176v-192v), full-length vertical bounding lines in ink visible on ff. 1-9v, otherwise the ruling is indiscernible, (justification 64-62 x 40 mm.), written in brown ink in Gothic bookhand (textualis) in single column on 17 lines; Imprint: likely 160, ff. 24-176, first two leaves of each quire signed with a letter followed by lower case roman numeral, remaining leaves unsigned, (justification type area 61 x 40 mm.), 10 line measurement 35 mm., 18 long lines of northern rotunda font, decoration of the volume is continuous through the manuscript and handwritten sections, rubrics in red (printed rubrics are underlined in red), some capitals touched in red, 1- to 3-line initials alternating in red and blue, eighteen 3- to 5-line initials in blue decorated with red penwork (and occasionally green or purple paint), or in red decorated with either purple penwork (once accompanied with green paint), or green or dark pink penwork, eighteen 2- to 11-line initials in burnished gold on blue, green and dark pink grounds decorated with white penwork flourishes accompanied by EIGHTEEN PARTIAL OR FULL BORDERS with bezants in burnished gold and colorful flowers and acanthus leaves, TWO FULL-PAGE MINIATURES (ff. 12v, 24v) and TWO FULL-PAGE WOODCUTS (ff. 144v, 145v), gold leaf and paint partially flaked from miniatures and initials, ink rubbed on f. 1, margins heavily cropped with loss to the outer margins of the painted borders, some offset from colored initials on facing pages, thumbing, stains, and other signs of use, some leaves cockled, overall in good condition. Bound in the sixteenth or seventeenth century(?) in cream-colored leather over angled wooden boards, blind-tooled with a rectangular center panel tooled with florets at the corners and center, surrounded by a winding floral border, spine with three raised bands, damaged at the top, edges painted blue, two brass clasps on leather thongs attaching to brass pins on the front, top outer corner back cover damaged, leather worn (tooling now indistinct), small stain back cover, overall very good condition. Dimensions 76 x 57 mm.
A tiny example of a hybrid book where print and manuscript have been meticulously woven together to form a new, customized volume. Its decoration, which includes both printed illustration (two woodcuts) and illumination done by hand (two miniatures and numerous hand-painted borders) make this an unusually interesting example. The imprint is currently unidentified in bibliographic sources, underlining its rarity. The manuscript sections were likely copied in Deventer, birthplace of the reform movement known as the Modern Devotion, where the volume was assembled and illuminated.
Provenance
1. The core of this example of a hybrid book is a Book of Hours in Latin, currently unidentified in bibliographic sources (not identified in ISTC or USTC). Extensive sections of prayers were copied by hand and added before and after the printed sections (23 folios at the beginning, nine folios at the end). Decoration was added throughout in both the manuscript and printed sections, including two miniatures, illuminated initials, and decorated borders in burnished gold and colors, unifying the entire book.
The printed Book of Hours is now lacking its title page and, very probably, its calendar, suggesting its first quire was removed when the manuscript sections were added.
The Hours of the Virgin and the Office of the Dead follow the liturgical use of the diocese of Utrecht. The litany includes St. Willibrord of Utrecht, St. Lebuinus, bishop of Utrecht and patron saint of Deventer, St. Odulf of Utrecht, and St. Radboud of Utrecht. The specific order of the confessors in the litanies (Gregory, Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, Martin) however follows the liturgical use of the Congregation of Windesheim. In litanies for Utrecht, Martin, the patron saint of that city, is placed first among confessors. In litanies following Windesheim use this place of honor is usually given to Augustine, but occasionally follows the order found here (Korteweg, 2013, pp. 241, 256, and notes 26 and 33). The woodcut Mass of St. Gregory, Kok, 2013, 170.12 (described below), perhaps suggests the imprint dates after 1493.
Dr. Oliver Duntze has observed that this imprint is from Deventer, not before 1498, and probably c. 1500-1506, and suggests the printer was very likely Jacobus de Breda (using his large rotunda, type 3:180G; large textura, type 8,100G; and the small text rotunda, one of the states of 7:70G) (we thank Dr. Duntze for his generous expertise; in correspondence). The closest parallel to our imprint currently identified is a Book of Hours printed by Richard Pafraet around 1497 in Deventer (Horae. Cursus de domina; Stella clericorum; GW 13409, ih00392130), also a very small book (160), which begins the Hours of the Virgin with the same somewhat unusual phrase, “Incipiunt hore de domina,” and includes other textual parallels. However, our imprint is clearly not this edition, which is in 17 lines, and includes the Stella clericorum. It exists in only one copy, Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Ink 15.H.15. It is an open question whether the text on ff. 145-176, the Devota et humilis meditatio passionis domini Iesu Christi is from a second imprint, despite the continuity of type font, since it begins with its own title page, and a separate sequence of signatures.
Richard Pafraet and Jacobus de Breda were the two most important and prolific printers in the Northern Netherlands in the second half of the fifteenth century. Pafraet (1455-1512) began printing in Deventer in 1477 and continued until his death. Jacobus van Breda registered in Deventer in 1483, and likely trained with Pafraet; he established his own business soon thereafter, and editions from his press appear from 1485-1519.
The manuscript section includes a supplication to the locally important St. Lebuinus, patron saint of Deventer (ff. 3v-4) suggesting that the volume was assembled in the diocese of Utrecht, and possibly in Deventer, where the manuscript portions were copied, and the book was illuminated. Deventer was the home of the first male foundation of the Brethren of the Common Life, founded by Geert Grote’s close disciple, Florens Radewyns, in 1381, known as Heer Florenhuis (Master Floren’s house). The style of the script and decoration suggests the volume was assembled at the end of the fifteenth or early in the sixteenth century.
2. On the contemporary front flyleaf in parchment inscribed in early modern cursive hand: “Off... Maria... Sorella... Catolica Scriptum Anno 1..7 (?)”.
3. Modern bookseller’s notes in pencil on the first front paper flyleaf and on the end pastedown.
Text
I. ff. 1-23v, Manuscript:
ff. 1-5v, [Benedictions for protection against death and evils, collects, verses and supplications to St. Luke, St. Pantaleon, Sts. Cosmas and Damian, St. Lebuinus, the Three Kings, and Christ], Ista benedictio debet legi dum de lecto surgis de mane per hanc enim benedictione <smudge> praemunitur a morte, incipit, “Ihesus nazarenus rex judeorum titulus triumphalis miserere mei. Sancte Deus, sancte fortis, sancte et immortalis, miserere mei ...”;
f. 5v, [Prayer], incipit, “O Benignissime domine ihesu respice digneris super me miserum peccatorem ...”;
ff. 5v-6, [Prayer in Middle Dutch], incipit, “O heer du haes mit dunen bloedigen wonden ontbonden ...”;
f. 6r-v, [Prayer to the Holy Spirit], incipit, “Domine spiritus sancte deus, qui coequalis consubstantialis et coeternus ...”;
f. 6v, [Prayer, repeating the prayer copied on f. 5v], Ad elevationem sacramentm, incipit, “O benignissime domine ihesu respice super me miserum peccatorem ...”;
f. 7r-v, [Prayers], incipit, “Salve cor christi percussum vulnere tristi vitam ...”;
ff. 8-9, [Prayers], incipit, “Salve sancta facies ...”;
ff. 9-10v, [Prayers to all corporal members of Christ], incipit, “Salve tremendum cunctis protestatibus caput ...”;
f. 11, [Prayer], incipit, “In manus ineffabilis misericordiæ tue ...”;
f. 11r-v, [Prayer to the Virgin], incipit, “O domina mea sancta Maria...”;
[f. 12, blank; f. 12v, Miniature]; ff. 13-14, [Prayer], Oratio bona de quinque vulneribus, incipit, “Tibi deo crucifixo creatori et salvatori meo ...”;
ff. 14rv, [Prayer to the Holy Trinity], incipit, “Domine deus omnipotens eterne ineffabilis ...”;
ff. 14v-15v, Graciarum actio ad deum patrem, incipit, “Gracias tibi domine deus pater …”; Graciarum actio ad filium, …; Graciarum action ad spirtum sanctum, …”
ff. 15v-18, [Prayers to the Virgin], incipit, “Laudo et glorifico te o virgo virginum maria que nec primam similem visa es nec habere sequentem ...”; “Loquar ad cor tuum o virgo maria loquar ad cor tuum ...”;
ff. 18-21v, Prayers to the four archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, and to the Virgin;
ff. 21v-23v, [Prayer to the Virgin promising that whoever devoutly reads the prayer daily will see the Virgin at the hour of their death], incipit, “O gloriosissima Maria in sinum tue pietatis ...”;
II. ff. 24-144v, Imprint:
[f. 24, blank; f. 24v, Miniature of the Virgin and Child on a single leaf]; ff. 25-53v, “Incipiu[n]t hore de do-/mina. Ad matutinas./ Ave maria gratia ple-/na dominus tecum/ [D]omina labia mea/ aperies. Et os me-/ …”;
Hours of the Virgin, use of Utrecht; Matins and Lauds (ff. 25-37), Prime (ff. 37-39v), Terce (ff. 39v-41v), Sext (ff. 41v-43v), None (ff. 44-46), Vespers (ff. 46-50v), Compline (ff. 50v-53v); Use established from the evidence of the Prime antiphon, “Quando natus,” Prime capitulum, “Ab initio,” None antiphon, “Ecce Maria,” and the None capitulum “Quasi cedrus” (Korteweg, 2013, pp. 246-250).
ff. 53v-59, Hours of the Holy Cross;
ff. 59-66v, Penitential Psalms;
ff. 66v-72, Litanies, followed by prayers;
ff. 72v-101, Office of the Dead, use of Utrecht;
ff. 101v-102, Sequuntur quedam generalis suffragia. De eterna sapientia, incipit, “Ego diligentes me diligo ...”;
ff. 102v-109, [Prayers to the Virgin], incipit, “Obsecro te ...”;“Gaude dei genitrix virgo immaculata ...”; [Rosary Prayer],“Ave maria gracia plena dominus tecum ...”; Oratio beati bernardi ad beatam virginem mariam, inicipit, “O veneranda et gloriosa dei genitrix virgo maria ...”;
ff. 108-132, Suffrages of a guardian angel, all angels, St. John the Baptist, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. John the Evangelist, St. James, St. Thomas, Sts. Philip and James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, Sts. Simon and Jude, St. Matthias, St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, St. Sebastian, St. Vincent, St. Lambert, Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian, St. Erasmus, St. Adrian, St. Denis, St. Christopher, St. Gregory, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Martin, St. Nicolas, St. Francis, St. Anthony, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Servatius, St. Anne, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, St. Catherine, St. Barbara, St. Agatha, St. Lucy, St. Gertrude, St. Apollonia, St. Margaret, St. Dorothy, and St. Elizabeth;
ff. 132-144v, [Prayers before and after Holy Communion, beginning with one to be said in front of the crucifix], Nota magne indulgentie quottidie..., “O Domine ihesu christe adoro te in cruce pendentem et coronam spineam in capite portantem ...”; f. 133, Incipit deuota preparatio ad sacram communionem, …, Finiuntur orationes de sacra communione”; [f. 144v, Woodcut of the Crucifixion];
ff. 145-176, Imprint, second series of signatures:
ff. 145-149, [Prayer of St. Gregory the Great], Devota et hu/milis meditatio passio/nis domini Iesu Christi/ summi po[n]tificis beati/ Gregorii ... / aliis devotis or[ati]o[n]ibus/, [f. 145v, Woodcut of the Mass of St. Gregory]; [f. 146], Incipit oratio beati Gregorii …, incipit, “In mea sint memoria iesu pie signacula ...”;
ff. 149-157, [Rhythmic prayer of St. Bernard], incipit, “Salve, mundi salutare, salve, salve, iesu chare, cruci tuae me aptare vellem vere ...;
ff. 157-176, [Prayers to the Virgin, including one for the hour of death] incipit, “O sanctissima et gloriosissima, o benedictissima ...”;“Memento obsecro dulcis mater et domina ...”, “Obsecro te ...” [masculine forms]; “O intemerata ...”;“Ave rosa ...”; “Ave maria ...”; “Ave sanctissima maria, mater dei, regina celi ...”;“Ave maria ancilla trinitatis ...”; [the Seven Joys of the Virgin], “Gaude virgo...”; … [concluding with a prayer to All Saints], …/matio[n]em. Per christu[m] dnm nostr[orum]/ Amen;
III. ff. 176v-192v, Manuscript [beginning on the blank verso of the last leaf of the imprint]:
ff. 176v-185, Seven Psalms of the Virgin, followed by the Litany of the Virgin Mary;
ff. 185-192v, [Prayers to a guardian angel, to the Holy Trinity, and ending with the prayer], incipit, “Deus qui de sinu patris missus es in mundum ...”.
Illustration
Two inserted full-page miniatures:
f. 12v, a heart in burnished gold within a flower, surrounded by four smaller flowers, representing the five wounds of Christ, flanked by the names “ihesus” and “maria” in burnished gold on a blue ground, framed by an acanthus and flower border;
f. 24v, Virgin and Child in a narrow white and red frame;
Two full-page woodcuts:
f. 144v, Christ crucified with two thieves, colored by hand; with an ink and wash full border (done by hand, in a different style than the usual acanthus borders in this book); 52 x 41 mm. Kok, 2013, 76.66, see volume 1, p. 185, and volume 3, p. 459; for the series by Gerard Leeu, vol. 1, pp. 183-207, earliest use of the series in ILC 1364, GW M15098, Jordanus de Quedlingburg, Meditationes, Antwerp, Gerard Leeu, 1485. (See also, see Kok 223.6, 50 x 42 mm., Mathias van der Goes, ILC 1045, Antwerp, 1481-2).
f. 145v, Mass of St. Gregory, uncolored; 64 x 44 mm. Kok, 2013, 170.12, see vol. 1, p. 392 and volume 4, p. 796; the series by Jacob Bellaert, vol. 1, pp. 391-394, which only occurs almost complete in ILC 961, GW M34236, Epistolae et evangelia, Deventer, Jacobus de Breda, 1493.
The miniatures on ff. 12v and 24v are on inserted singletons, with the rectos of these leaves blank, that were inserted into the book when it was being made. Note that the decorated border surrounding the miniature on f. 12v is in the same style and by the same artist as those that accompany the burnished gold initials throughout the volume, both in the manuscript and in the printed sections. The leaves with the woodcuts are integral to the quire structure; both are on the verso of a leaf, with printed text on the recto. The acanthus border surrounding the woodcut on f. 144v, however, is in a style different from that of the borders painted elsewhere in the manuscript.
Manuscripts illustrated by woodcuts or engravings are a particularly interesting example of a hybrid book (a term used today for many of the mixed-media volumes produced in the age of printing, including volumes that combine hand-written and printed texts, and printed volumes with illuminations or other decoration done by hand) (Hindman and Farquhar, 1977; Hindman, 2009; Schmidt, 2003; Rudy, 2015 and 2019). Many of the known examples of this practice, like the manuscript described here, were made in Germany and in the Dutch-speaking Netherlands where the religious life was strongly influenced by the spiritual movement Devotio moderna (the Modern Devotion).
The movement of the Modern Devotion began in Deventer, a town about 80 km east of Utrecht, on the IJssel river. In 1374, Geert Grote offered his parental home in Deventer to a community of women, who, inspired by his sermons, wished to live in simplicity and renewed spirituality, without taking monastic vows. The first male house, Heer Florenhuis, was founded in Deventer by Grote’s follower Florens Radewyns in 1381. It was from the Houses of the Brethren of the Common Life that the first monastery of the Canons Regular was founded in Windesheim in 1387, adopting the rule of St. Augustine (cf. Korteweg 2013, p. 237). Communities of the Brethren of the Common Life were composed mainly of priests and clerics, who celebrated Mass and Office in Latin, and acted as rectors and confessors for the affiliated female communities and convents (cf. Korteweg 2013, p. 238).
The use of Latin in this tiny devotional book, which was assembled and decorated with such care, suggests it was made for a priest from such a community. Books of Hours in Latin were rare in the Northern Netherlands, where the majority of Books of Hours were written in the vernacular.
Literature
Hindman, Sandra. Pen to Press, Paint to Print: Manuscript Illumination and Early Prints in the Age of Gutenberg, Paris and Chicago, 2009.
Hindman, Sandra and James Douglas Farquhar. Pen to Press: Illustrated Manuscripts and Printed Books in the First Century of Printing, College Park, 1977.
Korteweg, A. Kriezels, aubergines en takkenbossen, Zutphen, 1992.
Kok, Ina. Woodcuts in incunabula printed in the Low Countries, Bibliotheca Bibliographica Neerlandica Series Major, Houten, 2013.
Korteweg, A. “Books of Hours from Northern Netherlands Reconsidered: The Use of Utrecht and Windersheim and Geert Grote’s Role as a Translator,” Books of Hours Reconsidered, ed. by S. Hindman and J. Marrow, London, Turnhout, 2013, pp. 235-277.
Marrow, James et al. The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, New York, 1990.
Rudy, Kathryn M. Image, Knife, and Gluepot: Early Assemblage in Manuscript and Print, Cambridge, 2019.
https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/806
Rudy, Kathryn M. Postcards on Parchment: The Social Lives of Medieval Books, New Haven and London, 2015.
Online Resources
K. Ottosen, “Responsories and Versicles of the Latin Office of the Dead” http://www-app.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/PKGG/Musikwissenschaft/Cantus/Ottosen/search.html
Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections http://www.mmdc.nl/static/site/index.html
ISTC (Incunabula Short Title Catalogue) https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/
USTC (Universal Short Title Catalogue) https://www.ustc.ac.uk/
Horae. Cursus de domina; Stella clericorum [Deventer: Richard Paffraet, um 1497]
https://data.cerl.org/istc/ih00392130
Epistolae et Evangelia, Jacobus de Breda, Deventer, 1493, copy in Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Nationale bibliotheek van Nederland
https://archive.org/details/ned-kbn-all-00002104-001/page/n202/mode/1up
J. Hollaar, “Richard Pafraet (1455-1512),” WIE IS WIE in Overijssel | Overijsselse Biografieën
https://www.wieiswieinoverijssel.nl/zoekresultaten/p2/485-richard-pafraet
TM 1211
