Book of Hours were prayer books designed for the laity, but modeled on the Divine Office, a cycle of daily devotions, prayers and readings, performed by members of religious orders and the clergy. Its central text is the Hours of the Virgin. There are eight hours (times for prayer ): Matins, Lauds. Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. During the Middle Ages, the leaves making up a Book of Hours were written by hand on expensive parchment and beautifully illuminated with jewel-like pigments and gold leaf. These illuminated manuscripts combined the collaborative efforts of an array of highly skilled craftspeople; requiring the joint labors of the parchmenter, professional scribes to write the text in Gothic script, artists to illuminate the pages with decorations, and masterful binders to complete the process.

An unusual vellum leaf from a Book of Hours with the text written in yellow ink and illuminated initials and line fillers in red, blue, white and burnished gold. Both sides of the leaf are embellished with a lovely border of leaves and flowers. The text includes Psalm 123, with beginning with the large initial "N" at top on recto, translates as:

If the Lord had not been with us, let Israel now say it:
if the Lord had not been with us, when men rose up against us,
perhaps they would have swallowed us alive. When their fury was enraged against us,
perhaps the waters would have engulfed us.
Our soul has passed through a torrent. Perhaps, our soul had even passed through intolerable water.
Blessed is the Lord, who has not given us into the harm of their teeth.
Our soul has been snatched away like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters. The snare has been broken, and we have been freed.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

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Condition: B

Light toning and soiling with some abrasions.