Book of Hours were prayer books designed for the laity, but modeled on the Divine Office, a cycle of daily devotions, prayers and readings, performed by members of religious orders and the clergy. Its central text is the Hours of the Virgin. There are eight hours (times for prayer ): Matins, Lauds. Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. During the Middle Ages, the leaves making up a Book of Hours were written by hand on expensive parchment and beautifully illuminated with jewel-like pigments and gold leaf. These illuminated manuscripts combined the collaborative efforts of an array of highly skilled craftspeople; requiring the joint labors of the parchmenter, professional scribes to write the text in Gothic script, artists to illuminate the pages with decorations, and masterful binders to complete the process.

Small vellum leaf with text from a French Book of Hours from the Middle Ages. Written on both sides with brown ink in a gothic bookhand and embellished with two initials on each side in blue, red and burnished gold. At the bottom of the verso is the catchword Dame. The text is a song in the praise of the Virgin.

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Condition: B+

Some cockling along the binding edge and minor stains along the fore-edge.