Descrizione

8vo. French ms. on vellum, calligraphed and illuminated by Léonie T(h)iersonnier. 88 pp. Contemporary calf on 5 raised bands with metal applications to front cover (allied coat of arms: Jacobe de Haut de Sigy and Thiersonnier). Leading edges gilt; inner dentelle richly gilt. All edges gilt, silk moirée endpapers. 2 metal clasps (slight defect to upper clasp). The present manuscript, painstakingly executed in the style of the late-mediaeval French Books of Hours, was a gift from Léonie Tiersonnier (née Ruffin) to her daughter Jeanne Clémence Guillemine Thiersonnier (1849-1936) on the occasion of her marriage to (Marie Auguste) Ambroise Jacobe de Haut de Sigy (1842-86) in the Paris church of St. Pierre de Chaillot on 6 August 1873. They were married by Théodore-Augustin Forcade (1816-85), the newly-installed Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence. A 26-page Saints' calendar (captioned "Souvenirs") is followed by an elaborately designed 56-page missal, decorated throughout by initials (some raised in gilt), line infillings, and ornamental borders.