About The Book
This Book of Hours is from Truman State University’s Special Collections Department located in Pickler Memorial Library. It is available for viewing by appointment. Please refer to the contact page for more information.
The Text
Primarily the book is written in Latin, but there is handwriting contained in the book, primarily at the end, that is written in French.
Latin Text
Handwritten French
flip through the book of hours
Click on the link below to interact with a digital version of the Book of Hours
A Brief History on the Hours
A Book of Hours was commissioned for patrons or could be bought as a ready made in large towns that held little personalization for the user.
Book of Hours typically contain a set of prayers. These prayers do not follow the hours in a day, and instead follow what is called service Hours. The creation of seven Hours was developed based upon Psalm 119: 164, which states “Seven times a day I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.” They are referred to as Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, Nones, Vespers, and Compline.
