The ‘Bezombes Hours’.- Book of Hours, Use of Paris, illuminated manuscript on vellum in Latin and French, 96 leaves (plus 2 vellum endleaves at front and 3 at back), wanting three single leaves (between fols 14-15, 17-18 and 51-52), else complete, collation: i4, ii8, iii7 (wants original first leaf), iv-vi8, vii6, viii7 (wants original first leaf), ix-xiii8 (including original endleaf at back), foliation in modern pink ink (including endleaves, but followed here), written in single column of 25 lines of a small lettre bâtarde, pale red rubrics, one- and 2-line initials in liquid gold on blue, brown and pink grounds, line-fillers in same or in woody designs, larger initials in white scrolls on coloured grounds, and these enclosing sprays of foliage on gold grounds, 13 of these accompanied by single panels of border decoration in acanthus leaf sprays and other foliage enclosing woody stems, strips of dull gold with other foliage, jewel-like belts and a banderole with a devotional inscription in French, one small square miniature, one column wide small miniature, 6 large arch-topped miniatures surrounded by full borders in the same designs as before, several with banderoles with French devotional inscriptions, 2 page handwritten description in modern French tipped in on endleaves at back, trimmed at edges with losses to edge of decoration there, small spots and stains, else good condition; bound in in fine 17th-century morocco binding, with the monogram of Philippe de Bethune (see below): his initials (‘PP’) under crown in gilt in centre of each board, within triple filet with same initials at corners, and another triple filet near edges of boards, gilt initials also in each of 5 compartments on spine (see below), marbled pastedowns and gilt edges, slight wear to edges, overall in good condition; housed in marbled card slipcase, 138 by 86mm., [northern France (Paris), last decades of 15th century]

Provenance:

1. Written and illuminated for a Parisian patron (with St. Genevieve in red in the Calendar), apparently a member of the Bezombes family with connections to the government administration, who then recorded family births in a 16th-century hand on an endleaf at the back of the book (the first for Pierre Bezombes, born 28 October 1506, with Pierre Le Gendre, Treasurer of France, and Jehan de Poncher, Treasurer of the Wars standing as his godfathers).
2. Philippe, comte de Béthune (1561-1649), Marquis de Chabris, comte de Selles-sur-Cher and baron de Charost, a statesman who served the monarchs Henri III, Henri IV and Louis XIII: this book in his distinctive binding (cf. identical toolmarks on boards of San Marino, CA., Huntington Museum, MS. 1181, and Paris, BnF Ms. Fr. 640). His vast library passed after his death to his son Hippolyte, who in turn bequeathed them to King Louis XIV in 1658. However, many volumes may have been lost during movement to the royal library, or soon after their arrival, and in 1670 a survey of the 2000 volumes in the Béthune collection found only 1567.
3. The present book was in the hands of D. Raullet in the late 17th or 18th century, who added his ex libris hand to fol. 3r.
4. Rene Marie Raoul de Sainte-Beuve (1838-1933), early musicologist, priest of Chartres and then from 1900 monk of nearby Solesmes Abbey: his inkstamps here on front endleaf, noting that he was already a Benedictine monk.
5. Canon Yves Delaporte, early to mid 20th-century archivist of the Chartres diocese: his ownership stamp on front endleaf.

Text and illumination:

The book comprises: a Calendar in French (fols. 3v-6r); Gospel readings (fols. 7r-10v); the Obsecro te (fols. 11r-13v); the Seven verses of St. Gregory, followed by Psalms (fols. 14r-17v, wants two leaves); Hours of the Virgin, Use of Paris (fols. 18r-51r, wanting opening); Hours of the Cross (fols. 52r-53r, wanting opening); Hours of the Holy Spirit (fols. 53v-55v); Penitential Psalms followed by a Litany (fols. 56r-66v); Office of the Dead, Use of Paris (fols. 67r-92v); Suffrages to the Saints (fols. 93r-97r), followed by prayers.

The miniatures have been attributed to the Master of Romuléon de Cluny (formerly known as the Master of Morgan 26), an artist active in Paris in the period 1480 to 1500, who was named by F. Avril after the scattered fragments of a Romuléon in Jean Miélot's translation, possibly commissioned by René II of Lorraine, and who painted Books of Hours for various patrons and a number of incunables on vellum for Charles VIII. The 6 large miniatures here are: fol. 7r, John the evangelist on Patmos; fol. 11r, the Pietà; fol. 14r, the Mass of St. Gregory; fol. 53v, Pentecost; fol. 56r, David and Bathsheba; fol. 67r, Job in his dung heap; and the smaller miniatures are: a column-wide miniature of the Trinity on fol. 93r; and a small square miniature of St. Anne meeting the Virgin on fol. 95v.