Horae in laudem beatissimae virginis Mariae ad Usum Romanum

12mo (158x92 mm). [180] leaves. Collation: A-M12 A-C12. Title page printed in red and black within a woodcut border composed of a headpiece, side-strips of flowers, birds and other animals, and a foodpiece with the French royal coat-of-arms. Kerver's unicorn device on title page. Almanac for the years 1556-1563 on title-page verso. Text in Roman letter printed in black with paragraph titles and small initials printed in red. With a few emblematic and historiated initials and 18 small woodcuts in the text with different subject such as the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Magi, the Massacre of the Innocents, the Coronation of the Virgin, David and Bathsheba, the Triumph of Death, etc. This set of blocks was designed and first used by Geoffroy Tory in his 16mo edition of 1529. They then passed to O. Mallard, who used them in 1541, and to Th. Kerver, who used the set also earlier in 1550 and 1552. All the pages are framed with borders, which are reduced free copies of Tory's design "à la modern", first used in his 4to edition of 1527. The borders, whose blocks come from Mallard's stock, are composed of headpieces and side-strips with birds, animals, insects and flowers, and of armorial and emblematic footpieces. Nicely bound by Lortic in a richly gilt-tooled brown morocco binding in Renaissance style. From the library of Robert Hoe, with his bookplate on the front pastedown (see Hoe sale catalogue, January 1912, no. 1694).

A FINE COPY IN AN ELEGANT RENAISSANCE-STYLE BINDING BY LORTIC of this delicious French book of hours profusely illustrated with woodblocks designed by Geoffroy Tory. In some copies is added at the end a French text of 48 leaves which was printed separately without a general title page and was probably intended to accompany this edition but was not issued with all copies.

Renouard, 524; Mortimer, 313; Bohatta, 1252; Lacombe, 447.