Book of Hours, Use of Rome

Book of Hours | Hore dive Virginis Marie

Paris, 1510

Printer: Thielman Kerver

Language: Latin

Ink printed on vellum

Height: 18cm

Single volume. Roman type within decorated and historiated borders, illuminated initials. Includes elaborately decorated borders with small and full-page woodcuts (some color woodcuts). Kerver's printer's device with two unicorns appears on the title page. New (early 20th century?) red morocco leather binding with marbled end papers. Use of Rome.

Reed College Library Special Collections, Rare Books BX2080.C371 1510
 

Brianna Fisher, Medieval Portland Capstone Student, 2019

A Brief Analysis of a Book of Hours, printed by Thielman Kerver, housed at Reed College

Physical Description:
The Book of Hours, printed by Thielman Kerver and housed in the Special Collections at Reed College, consists of highly stylized and vibrant borders printed on each of its 213 vellum pages, seventeen of which contain full-page illustrations, and twenty have miniature illustrations. Its full-page illustrations are comprised of fairly standard iconography such as the “Adoration of the Magi,” “The Flight into Egypt,”  and the “Presentation at the Temple.” Each page has an elaborate border that often depicts flowery vines and geometric patterns in a multitude of colors, although fourteen pages consist of skulls with a less vibrant color scheme and detail the Office of the Dead. The colors used throughout the book are variegated and include multiple shades of blue, orange, red, yellow, green, and gold leaf. In comparison, the Book of Hours by Thielman Kerver (1507) in Portland State University’s collection is primarily in black and white, with color added to highlight certain features. Of these colors, red is the most prominent and is used to draw attention to large swathes of important text, while blue and gold are used intermittently throughout. 

Kerver incorporates a colophon in Portland State’s Book of Hours that clearly states his name alongside two unicorns on either side of a shield bearing his initials, making it easy to attribute this work to him. Fortunately, this device is also present on the title page of the Reed Book of Hours as part of an ornately decorated first page. This first page is filled with intricate, gold, geometric designs that rest on a black background and clearly show that a significant amount of time and effort went into its production. 

The Office of the Dead:
The macabre pages of the Office of the Dead are found near the back of the book and contain a series of prayers said for the souls of the deceased. The prayers within the Office of the Dead are recited throughout an individual's life and at the time of death as a way to mitigate their time spent in purgatory. These fourteen pages and two full-page illustrations are less variegated, with far less red used throughout, and the only section to use black as a primary color within its borders. The Office of the Dead contains quotes from the Book of Job, which are meant to be analogous to the torment inflicted upon the dead in purgatory. 

Background:
One of many printers of Parisian Books of Hours, Thielman Kerver was an integral cog in a tightly knit microcosm of exchange amongst sixteenth-century printers in Paris. Although little is actually known about Kerver’s life, the “visual qualities and inclusions of pictorial narrative” of his work clearly show his ties to the Parisian printing scene and his partnership with Georges Wolff. One of Kerver’s four key partnerships, Wolff supplies Kerver with “new typesets and illustrations such as borders and bas-de-page imagery,” while Jean Philippe de Kreuznach, Gilles Remacle, and Guillaume Eustache have a less obvious impact. In a market virtually flooded with Books of Hours, Kerver’s work was neither the most expensive nor the cheapest on the market, and can be distinguished by extensive woodcut marginalia and engraved images as well as basic illuminated initials in a characteristic red or blue with gold or yellow highlights.

Perspective Audience:
The Book of Hours printed by Thielman Kerver (1510), owned by Reed College, appears to have been produced for a French-Catholic audience, although the Use of Rome had become the predominant Use as Books of Hours became more standardized with the advent of printing.  This Book of Hours is embossed throughout with the symbol of the Holy See and encircled by bibliotheca apostolica vaticana, both of which indicate that it had been previously owned by the Vatican. Despite the abundance of Parisian printers, it is possible to identify a potential audience for the Book of Hours owned by Reed College due to marked differences in editions produced by his contemporaries. Books of Hours printed by Anthoine Vérad and the Hardouin Brothers, German and Giles, were significantly more expensive, and Vérad’s, in particular, were often so extensively illuminated that it was difficult to discern that they were printed. Conversely, Kerver’s works are distinguished by parchment supports, extensive woodcut marginalia, engraved images, and basic illuminated initials in red, blue, gold, and yellow. As such, although it would not have been the most valuable option available to the upper class, the edition owned by Reed College would have been acceptable for a member of the bourgeoisie. 

The calendar for Reed’s Book of Hour lists the standard Saints and their respective feast days but indicates a French audience through the inclusion of specifically French saints such as Saint Genevieve, the Patron Saint of Paris, and the French equivalents of Saint William and Saint Peter (Saint Guillerme and Saint Pierre respectively). This can be further honed to an audience centered in the city of Rouen, the capital of the northern French region of Normandy, due to the inclusion of Saints specifically associated with Rouen and their respective feast days, such as Saint Mellonius (October 22nd) and Saint Romanus (October 23rd), both of whom had been bishops of Rouen. Additional Saints that further this point include Saint Marcial (July 3rd), Saint Sauveur (August 6th), and Saint Austrebert (February 10th), a French nun and abbess. The Book of Hours of the Use of Bourges and the Book of Hours of the Use of Coutances (both found in the Collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia) are two other documented cases in which the aforementioned Saints and feast days irrevocably tie their respective Books to a Rouen-specific audience. It is important to note that Portland State’s Book of Hours, which was created for a Spanish audience, does not include any of the aforementioned Saints or their feast days in its calendar.

Notes

[1] Kerver, Thielman. Hore Dive Virginis Marie : Scd'm Verũ Romanũ, Cum Aliis Multis Folio Sequenti Notatis, Vna Cum Figuris Apocalipsis Post Figuras Biblie Recenter Insertis. Paris: [T. Kerver], 1510.;  Majeski, Anna. The Printed Book of Hours of Thielman Kerver: Exploring Printer, Shop, Community and Book. Master's thesis, Tufts University, 2012.; "Libraries." Thielman Kerver | Vassar College Digital Library. Accessed May 06, 2019. https://digitallibrary.vassar.edu/node/41.
[2] Kerver, Hore Dive Virginis Marie, 98, 103, 108.
[3] Thielman, Kerver. Book of Hours. Paris: [T. Kerver], 1507.
[4] Majeski, The Printed Book, 23.
[5] Rohan, Le Maître De. The Rohan Master: A Book of Hours. Translated by Katharine W. Carson. New York: G Braziller, 1973. Rohan, Le Maître De.; Bennett, “Some Perspectives,” 21-22.; Morgan, Nigel. “English Books of Hours c.1240-c.1480,” in Books of Hours Reconsidered by Sandra Hindman and James H. Marrow. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2013.; Clemens, Raymond, and Timothy Graham. Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007.; Clark, Gregory T. The Spitz Master: A Parisian Book of Hours. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005
[6] Bennett, “Some Perspectives,” 21-22.; Morgan, “English Books,” 80.; Clemens and Graham, Manuscript Studies, 48.
[7] Clark, The Spitz Master, 217-218.
[8] Farquhar, James Douglas. Creation and Imitation: The Work of  Fifteenth-Century Manuscript Illuminator. (Fort Lauderdale: Nova/NYIT University Press, 1976).; Majeski, The Printed Book, 4-6.
[9] Majeski, The Printed Book, 4-6.; "Libraries." Thielman Kerver | Vassar College Digital Library. Accessed May 06, 2019. https://digitallibrary.vassar.edu/node/41.
[10] Majeski, The Printed Book, 15.; Vassar College Digital Library, "Libraries.”
[11] Majeski, The Printed Book, 21-22.
[12] Majeski, The Printed Book, 1-33.
[13] Holy See Coat of Arms. Accessed April 25, 2019. http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/insigne/sp_ss_scv_stemma-bandiera-sigillo_en.html.
[14] Majeski, The Printed Book, 20-23.
[15] Majeski, The Printed Book, 20-23.
[16] Majeski, The Printed Book, 21-23.
[17] Majeski, The Printed Book, 23.
[18] Butler, Alban, and Kathleen Jones. Butler's Lives of the Saints. Edited by Herbert S. J. Thurston and Donald Attwater. Vol. 2-4. New York, NY: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1962.; Bennett, Adelaide. “Some Perspectives on Two French Horae in the Thirteenth Century,” in Books of Hours Reconsidered by Sandra Hindman and James H. Marrow. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2013.
[19] Williams, Leslie L. "A Rouen Book of Hours of the Sarum Use, C. 1444, Belonging to Thomas, Lord Hoo, Chancellor of Normandy and France." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature 75 (1975): 189-212. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25506308.; Book of Hours: Use of Rouen. 1500. Accessed May 6, 2019.; Kerver, Hore Dive Virginis Marie, 10. http://bibliophilly.library.upenn.edu/viewer.php?id=5#page/2/mode/2up.; Bennett, “Some Perspectives,” 21-22.
[20] Kerver, Hore Dive Virginis Marie, 1-12.; Bennett, “Some Perspectives,” 21-22.; Book of Hours: Use of Rouen.
[21] Bennett, “Some Perspectives,” 21-22.; Book of Hours: Use of Coutances. 1500. Accessed May 06, 2019. http://bibliophilly.library.upenn.edu/viewer.php?id=Lewis E 90#page/12/mode/2up.
[22] Kerver, Book of Hours.

Bibliography

Bennett, Adelaide. “Some Perspectives on Two French Horae in the Thirteenth Century,” in Books of Hours Reconsidered by Sandra Hindman and James H. Marrow. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2013.

"Book of Hours: Use of Rouen." 1500. Artwork of the Day RSS. Accessed May 06, 2019. http://bibliophilly.library.upenn.edu/viewer.php?id=5#page/220/mode/2up.

"Book of Hours: Use of Coutances." Artwork of the Day RSS. Accessed May 06, 2019. http://bibliophilly.library.upenn.edu/viewer.php?id=Lewis E 90#page/12/mode/2up.

Butler, Alban, and Kathleen Jones. Butler's Lives of the Saints. Edited by Herbert S. J. Thurston and Donald Attwater. Vol. 2. New York, NY: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1962.

Butler, Alban, and Kathleen Jones. Butler's Lives of the Saints. Edited by Herbert S. J. Thurston and Donald Attwater. Vol. 3. New York, NY: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1962.

Butler, Alban, and Kathleen Jones. Butler's Lives of the Saints. Edited by Herbert S. J. Thurston and Donald Attwater. Vol. 4. New York, NY: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1962.

Clark, Gregory T. The Spitz Master: A Parisian Book of Hours. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005.

Clemens, Raymond, and Timothy Graham. Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007.

Farquhar, James Douglas. Creation and Imitation: The Work of  Fifteenth-Century Manuscript Illuminator. (Fort Lauderdale: Nova/NYIT University Press, 1976). 

Fifteenth Century Book of Hours. Accessed May 06, 2019. http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/dec2006.html.

Hindman, Sandra. Books of Hours Reconsidered. Edited by James H. Marrow. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2013.

Holy See Coat of Arms. Accessed April 25, 2019. http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/insigne/sp_ss_scv_stemma-bandiera-sigillo_en.html.

Kerver, Thielman. Book of Hours. Paris: [T. Kerver], 1507.

Kerver, Thielman. Hore Dive Virginis Marie : Scd'm Verũ Romanũ, Cum Aliis Multis Folio Sequenti Notatis, Vna Cum Figuris Apocalipsis Post Figuras Biblie Recenter Insertis. Paris: [T. Kerver], 1510.

"Libraries." Thielman Kerver | Vassar College Digital Library. Accessed May 06, 2019. https://digitallibrary.vassar.edu/node/41.

Majeski, Anna. The Printed Book of Hours of Thielman Kerver: Exploring Printer, Shop, Community and Book. Master's thesis, Tufts University, 2012.

Morgan, Nigel. “English Books of Hours c.1240-c.1480,” in Books of Hours Reconsidered by Sandra Hindman and James H. Marrow. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2013.

Niermeyer, Jan Frederik. Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus. Leiden, The Netherlands: Wiss. Buchges., 1976.

Pfaff, Steven. "The True Citizens of the City of God: The Cult of Saints, the Catholic Social Order, and the Urban Reformation in Germany." Theory and Society 42, no. 2 (2013): 189-218. doi:10.1007/s11186-013-9188-x.

Rohan, Le Maître De. The Rohan Master: A Book of Hours. Translated by Katharine W. Carson. New York: G Braziller, 1973.

Simpson, D. P. Cassell's Latin Dictionary. 5th ed. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1968.

Stark, Rodney. "Upper Class Asceticism: Social Origins of Ascetic Movements and Medieval Saints." Review of Religious Research 45, no. 1 (2003): 5-19. doi:10.2307/3512496.

Williams, Leslie L. "A Rouen Book of Hours of the Sarum Use, C. 1444, Belonging to Thomas, Lord Hoo, Chancellor of Normandy and France." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature 75 (1975): 189-212. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25506308.