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.

A nice vellum manuscript written in black ink with two large initials in red and blue ink with burnished gold leaf. Beginning with the large letter "I" on recto, the text translates in part as:

At that time:
while Jesus was speaking to the crowds,
a certain woman from the crowd, raising her voice said:
Blessed is the womb that bore thee
and the breasts that thou hast sucked.
But he said: Nay, rather, blessed
are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

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Condition: B+

Very light soiling.