[Book of hours] Illuminated book of hours, Use of Sarum, possibly Bruges, ca. 1430

Bookblock measuring 193 x 135 mm, comprising 60 vellum leaves and 3 paper pages comprising an 18th-cent. index of contents and a short list of common Latin abbreviations, later pagination 1-62 and 65-122, with 7 FULL-PAGE MINIATURES with floral and foliate borders in the style of the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, and 21 ILLUMINATED INITIALS extending into foliate borders with bezants, flowers and fruits, bound in late 18th cent. calf (apparently Dutch, upper endpapers with watermark "L.V. Gerrevink"), gilt spine w. 2 contrast mor. letterpieces.

The Miniatures paginated 18, 22, 26, 42, 46 and 52 are partially or completely backed (some tears in vellum), some marg. loss of pigment to miniatures on p. 22 (vellum torn) and 52. The text lacks a number of leaves at the end of each Hour of the Office of the Virgin; text leaf paginated 91-92, strenghtened in margin recto (vellum torn); slight marginal cropping, some soiling throughout, occas. stained. The binding shows some imperfections, the contradiction between the provenance (English) and the binding (apparently Dutch) could not be explained by us. Fine, beautifully illuminated manuscript with a good provenance.The book must have originated in Bruges ca. 1430 for the English export market. The addition of Latin prayers in a 15th-century English hand (p. 62, 73-74 and 120) indicate that the manuscript arrived in England soon after its production. With owner's entry in pen of Jonas Smorden on p. 26 (a yeoman Jonas Smerdon lived in Ashburton, Devon in 1690). The manuscript was in the library of the Earls of Devon (already missing some leaves by the 17th or 18th century, when it was paginated and given the index), then by descent to the 18th Earl of Devon. It was sold at auction at Sotheby's, 7 July 2009, lot 51 and again at Christie's, 21 November 2012. The seven miniatures depict St. John the Evangelist, the Virgin and Child, St. Catherine, Christ before Pilate, the Scourging of Christ, Christ on the cross and the Commendation of Souls to Heaven. They are executed in the style of the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht of around 1420-1440. See at large on these masters: Saskia van Bergen, De Meesters van Otto van Moerdrecht. Een onderzoek naar de stijl en iconografie van een groep miniaturisten, in relatie tot de productie van getijdenboeken in Brugge rond 1430 (Amst., 2007, thesis). Interestingly enough, the first miniature, depicting St. John the Evangelist, appears to be monogrammed in the image just above the lower borderlines. Three vague letters can be seen, with ":" in between. The text comprises: Calendar f.1-6v; prayers to the Trinity and to various saints ff.7-14; Office of the Virgin ff.15-31; prayers to the Virgin f.32; the Seven Hymns for the Virgin, here attributed to Pope Clement f.37; prayers to the Virgin and St. John the Evangelist f.39; Bede's prayer De septem verbis domini f.41; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.43-50; Office of the Dead f.51; Gradual Psalms f.56; readings on the Passion f.58; the Psalter of St. Jerome f.60.