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 vellum leaf printed in Gothic textura type with illuminated capitals in red, blue and burnished gold leaf. The text is surrounded by elaborate iron engravings that include plants, animals, hunters, and several biblical scenes with captions in French. Printed vellum Book of Hours leaves are very scarce, as they were only produced between 1496 and 1530. The text includes a Latin hymn to the Holy Spirit and translates in part as:

May the Spirit, the Paraclete, deign to help us,
To guide and illuminate our steps
That, when God shall come to judge all,
(He may be pleased to call us to His right hand.

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Condition: A

Marginal soiling.