This leaf is from the brief transitional period when the new technology of printing with movable type was combined with the more labor intensive methods of hand painting. The earliest printers were trained in the manuscript tradition and incorporated the conventions of historiated initials and illustrations into their early work. At first they left those spaces blank for the illuminator to complete entirely by hand. Later they developed printing methods (using woodcuts or iron engravings) to decorate the leaves.

Unusual leaf printed on paper in Gothic textura type with illuminated capitals in red and blue. The Latin text is surrounded by elaborate iron engravings that include a centaur and griffins. Printed Book of Hours leaves are very scarce, as they were only produced between 1496 and 1530. The text includes Psalm 121, which translates as:

I rejoiced in the things that were said to me: “We shall go into the house of the Lord.”
Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem has been built as a city, whose participation is unto itself.
For to that place, the tribes ascended, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to confess to the name of the Lord.
For in that place, seats have sat down in judgment, seats above the house of David.
Petition for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem, and for abundance for those who love you.
Let peace be in your virtue, and abundance in your towers.
For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors, I spoke peace about you.
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I sought good things for you.

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Condition: A

Minor marginal foxing.