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.

This vellum leaf is from an early Breviary written in northern France or Flanders. The text is written in a single column (21 lines) in Gothic book hand in black and red ink. There is one large initial in red and blue ink, with a decorative border extending into the margins. Beginning with the large initial "D" on recto is Psalm 43, which translates in part as:

We have heard, O God, with our own ears. Our fathers have announced to us the work that you wrought in their days and in the days of antiquity.
Your hand dispersed the Gentiles, and you transplanted them. You afflicted a people, and you expelled them.
For they did not take possession of the land by their sword, and their own arm did not save them.
But your right hand and your arm, and the light of your countenance did so, because you were pleased with them.
You yourself are my king and my God, who commands the salvation of Jacob.
With you, we will brandish a horn before our enemies; and in your name, we will spurn those rising up against us.

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Condition: B

There is light toning and soiling, as well as rubbing of the black ink.