About the Book of Hours
This Book of Hours is written on vellum and is a Use of Rome. It dates to around 1500 and it is bound with leather together with family notes written on paper.
The pages are 6 1/2″ x 4″ and appear to be cut at the top and the bottom.
There are 18 lines per page with some pages containing hand-written notes in French.
The Latin script is written in lettre bâtarde and has three illuminations present.
What is "Use of Rome?"
Books of Hours could be labeled as a variety of different uses. Such as, Use of Paris, Use of Reims, and Use of Rouen. The use, tells the location of where the book was made, or the eventual location of where it would be used. As occasionally, a book may be made in one area, but meant to be sent to an owner in an entirely different area. This was done so the liturgical text followed the same practice of the owner. [1]
This book contains two sections: the Book of Hours (written in Latin) and family notes (written in French). On some pages, there are small notes written in French in the margins of the Book of Hours, though they are few in number.
Wealthy families tended to own these books, not just due to their wealth (though the books were used as a way to be devout and show off their wealth), but because typically the lower class was illiterate.
This book contains a family tree that has been handwritten by the owners of the book. The families mentioned are the Gallays, Launay, Danion, and Douard.
More Information
Lettre Bâtarde
See How is a Book of Hours Created? for more details.
Come see the Book of Hours Yourself
Footnotes
[1] Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham, Introduction to Manuscript Studies (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007), 208.