Illustrated books -- Bibliography; Illustration of books; Printing -- History
In the Horae of the group we have been describing the subjects of the
larger cuts became fairly well settled, in accordance with the normal
contents of the prayer book. For the Kalendar there is the figure of a
man with an indication of the parts of his body presided over by the
different planets: for the sequence of the Gospels of the Passion,
sometimes a Crucifixion, sometimes a picture of S. John; for the Hours
of the Blessed Virgin, the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity,
Shepherds, Magi, Circumcision, Massacre of the Innocents or Flight into
Egypt, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin; for the Hours of the Cross,
a Crucifixion; for the Hours of the Holy Spirit, His Descent at
Pentecost; for the Penitential Psalms, David's fall (Bathsheba bathing
or the death of Uriah) or repentance; for the Office of the Dead, either
a Funeral, Dives and Lazarus, or the three Gallants and three Skeletons
(_les trois vifs et trois morts_); for the Suffrages, small pictures of
various saints. Any edition might have one or more additional cuts with
less usual subjects, but those named occur in almost all.
Passing on, we come now to Verard's countermove to Du Pre's group, Horae
measuring 6 inches or a little under by about 3(1/2). Editions of these
were issued in April, 1488-9, and in January, February, and April of the
following year. The last of these, completed 10 April, 1489-90, I
wrongly described, in an article in Vol. III of _Bibliographica_, as
having a titlepage bearing the words _Les figures de la Bible_. It has
such a titlepage in the copy in the British Museum, but I have now woke
up to the fact that it is a modern fabrication, added either by an
artful bookseller or an artless owner. In these Horae the borders are
made up of four pieces, one of which extends along most of the outer and
lower margins, and shows children wrestling with each other, or playing
with hobbies or go-carts. On 10 July, 1493, these are found in a Horae
issued by Laurens Philippe. Verard could the better afford to part with
them, since in August, 1490, perhaps earlier, he had substituted much
larger borders, the subjects in which seem imitated from those of Du
Pre's metal-cuts, the printed page now measuring about 8 X 5 inches, and
thus winning for them the title Grandes Heures, by which they are
generally known (see Plate XX). The large cuts, of which, though not all
appear in every edition, thereillustrate the following subjects:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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