Subject: Early Printing
Period: 1507 (circa)
Publication:
Color: Hand Color
Size:
4 x 6 inches
10.2 x 15.2 cm
This handsome Book of Hours leaf was printed on vellum in red and black with many initials hand painted in red, blue and liquid gold. Around the text are several metal cuts depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament with the captions in red. These pictures explained the relation between the Old Testament and the Life of Christ. Additional ornamental borders complete the page. On the verso is the complete Canticle of the Virgin Mary from Luke 1:46-55, the famous Magnificat.
Thielman Kerver was a printer in Paris, who worked "in vico sancti Iacobi ad signum Vnicornis & ibidem venales habent" (in Saint Jacob's lane under the sign of the Unicorn where they are also for sale). Kerver's work is much less common than that of his colleague, Simon Vostre.
References:
Condition: A
A little faint discoloration on the vellum on the verso, still very good.