"Dit gebede boekie heeft geschreve Alexander Sanders van Well (...) Anno Domini 1779"

Prayer book entirely in manuscript, (3),315,(1) p., elaborately illuminated in pen and brown ink with title illustration and 29 full-page miniatures, various smaller illustrations, each page with a decorative border and with decorated initials, bound in brown leather binding with ribbed back and gilt edges, 8vo (ties missing).

An extraordinary example of pious homecraft. We were unable to verify whether the manuscript was (partly) copied from printed books in terms of text or illustrations; searching for various titles in Picarta yielded no results. The "Nymeegs hand-boekje, of Naam-register van de leden van regeering (...) binnen den Quartiere van Nymegen" (1793) names Alexander Sanders van Well as Sergeant in 1770. His book is divided into the following chapters, each chapter with miniature at the beginning: (1) "Onser Lieve Vrouwe geteyden ter Metten tydt"; (2) "(...) te Lauden"; (3) "(...) te Priemen"; (4) "(...) te Tertien"; (5) "(...) te Sexten"; (6) "(...) te Nonen"; (7) "(...) te Vesperen"; (8) "(...) te Completen"; (9) "Gebeden in de Hylige Misse"; (10) "Gebeden om sigh te bereyde tot een salige Bichte"; (11) "Gebede eer men tot het H. Sacrament gaet"; (12) "Gebede Na het ontfangen van het H. Sacrament"; (13) "Gebede ende meditatie tot de H: maget Maria"; (14-20) "De Vespere des Son-Daghes" (tot aan die van zaterdag); (21) "De Completen"; (22) "Aendachtige Gebeden tot Jezus"; (23) "Gebeden tot de Passie Christie"; (24) "Gebeden tot het hoogwerdig H: Sacrament"; (25) "Gebeden voor den Sieken en Stervenden"; (26) "De Ziele Vigilien"; (27) "De liedekens der vijftien Trappen"; (28) "De Zeeden Boet Psalmen". The last page depicts a four-leafed clover with pious text and the following conclusion: "Bid voor de ziel van Alexander Sanders van Well die desen boek heft gescheven" [sic].