Paris Book of Hours

Gilles Hardouyn was a bookseller turned printer who was active in Paris between 1491 and 1524
Hardouyn's publishing house specialized in books of hours and printed at least two dozen known editions
Published in 1510, this codex is a splendid testimony to the first generation of French printed books

Paris Book of Hours

Ant.76 Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Budapest, Hungary)

Description

Paris Book of Hours

The so-called Paris Book of Hours or the Heueres a lusaige de Romme is a magnificent gem of the first generation of French book printing, which was printed in 1510 in the Parisian workshop of the renowned bookseller and printer Gilles Hardouyn (1455-1529). In addition to the Liturgy of the Hours, it contains an almanac covering the years 1510 to 1530. The 92 relatively large-format folios of this exquisitely printed work are adorned with wonderful full-page, hand-colored woodcuts and elaborately historiated woodcut borders, showing the reader biblical events and the salvific history of mankind. Meanwhile, the pious texts are structured and decorated by countless colorful, painted initials. This charming Renaissance book of hours has been a valuable part of the collections of the Hungarian Academy of Science Library since 1929.

Codicology

Alternative Titles: Stundenbuch von Paris
Pariser Stundenbuch
Les presentes heures a lusaige de Romme
Hardouyn Hours in Budapest
Type: Print on paper
Size / Format: 184 pages / 23.0 × 15.0 cm
Origin: France
Date: Ca. 1510
Epochs: Late Middle Ages Onwards
Style: Renaissance
Genre: Private Devotion Books
Language: French
Latin
Illustrations: Numerous hand-coloured woodcuts, 20 of which are full-page; ornate woodcut borders
Content: Almanac, Gospel sequences, Hours of the Virgin, Hours of the Cross, Hours of the Holy Spirit, Penitential Psalms, Litany of All Saints, prayers; suffrages, Office of the Conception of the Virgin
Artist / School: Workshop of Gilles Hardouyn