Superb vellum leaf from this important transitional period when books began to be printed from movable type, decorated with metal-cut illustrations and combined with hand-painted illuminated initials. It is printed on vellum in black and red with many initials hand painted in red, blue and gold. The ornamental border on both sides illustrate important scenes from Genesis 1. On the recto God is creating the animals of the earth: Fecit deus bestias terre iuxta species suas. On the verso is the creation of the Sun and the Moon: fiant luminaria I(n) firmame(n) to celi et dividant die[m]. (ac noctem). The text is from the Hours of the Virgin, Matins, the Psalms 18 (last part), 23 and 44 (first part).

Thielman Kerver was a printer in Paris, who worked "in vico sancti Iacobi ad signum Vnicornis & ibidem venales habent" (in Saint Jacob's lane under the sign of the Unicorn where they are also for sale). Kerver's work is much less common than that of his colleague, Simon Vostre.

References:

Condition: B+

There is an old vellum repair of the gutter that affects part of the border on the verso.