A Paris Book of Hours [antikvár]

Books of hours were the prayer-books most commonly used by the laity during the Middle Ages. They were especially popular with women and served the purposes of priváté devotion. To somé extent books of hours were modelled on the breviaries of the time, these being prayer-books used by the clergy. However, they alsó differ from such breviaries in many respects. Firstly, books of hours do not generally have the same content as breviaries. In fact, apart from certain uniform features, books of hours vary enormously with regard to their contents, the reason that they were not intended for use during divine Offices. Neither were they divided up according to the fixed and movable feasts of the ecclesiastical year. A characteristic feature of books of hours is their rich ornamentation. They are in many cases masterpieces of book production, with full-page illuminations, decorative initial letters and splendid bordér frames. For the most part they are bound in velvet and sometimes even have silver mountings. The heyday of books of hours was from the fourteenth century to the first half of the sixteenth century. Today books of hours are treasured items in public and priváté collections. The name book of hours (horarium, livre d'heures, Stundenbuch) derives from the division of the day into units of three hours each. This division was in line with the practice in ancient Romé and follows the order of the prayers appearing in the breviaries. The so-called horae, or "hours" began with the start of the calendar day and, were as follows: matutinum-Matins (the hour of the night, Office Readings, at 12 midnight). laudes-Lauds (early morning praise, at 3 o'clock). prima-Prime (the first canonical hour, daytime prayer, 6 o'clock). tertia-Terce (the third hour after sunrise, daytime prayer, at 9 o'clock). sexta-Sext (the sixth hour, noon prayer, at 12 o'clock). nona-None (the ninth hour, afternoon prayer, at 15 o'clock). vesperae-Vespers (sunset prayer, at 18 o'clock). completorium-Compline (the last canonical hour, at 21 o'clock). In the books there are prayers called "hours" which are addressed to the Virgin Mary. These prayers make up the longest part of such works, which are frequently called "The Hours of the Virgin Mary". Others are to the Holy Cross and to the Holy Spirit. Alsó to be found are penitential psalms, litanies, commendatory prayers, prayers to saints, etc. At the beginning of