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 one large initial and numerous small initials in red and blue ink with burnished gold leaf. The text includes all of Psalm 112, and beginning with the initial "L" on recto, translates as:

Alleluia. Praise the Lord, children. Praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed is the name of the Lord, from this time forward and even forever.
From the rising of the sun, even to its setting, praiseworthy is the name of the Lord.
The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory is high above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord, our God, who dwells on high,
and who gazes upon the humble things in heaven and on earth?
He lifts up the needy from the ground, and he urges the poor away from filth,
so that he may place him with the leaders, with the leaders of his people.
He causes a barren woman to live in a house, as the joyful mother of sons.

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Condition: B+

Light toning and soiling. The black ink is faded in some spots.