Hours according to the use of Rome. Hore in laudem... Lot 124

Hours according to the use of Rome. Hore in laudem gloriosissime virginis Marie secundum usum Romanum totaliter ad longum sine require, cum multis suffragiis et orationibus de novo additis. Etiam cum figuris apocalipsis beati Joahnnis evangeliste noviter. [impresse Parisius], per Germanum Hardouyn, bibliopole jurati, commorantem inter duas Januas Palatii, ad intersignium Dive margarete. Paris, Germain Hardouyn, [c. 1532]. In-8 gothic printed on vellum of [103] leaves (out of 112) in 14 quires signed A-N by 8, 24 lines, with borders. Dim. of the ff. 175 x 115 mm. Black morocco, spine with mute ribbing decorated in cold, beautiful cold plate on the boards, gilt edges (19th c. binding in imitation). One leaf with a short handwritten note in 1862 before the first title leaf. Fol. A3: Almanac for 1532-1545. At the end, fol. O8 v° : "Cy finissent ces presentes Heures, à l'usaige de Romme, toutes au long, sans requerir ; ont esté nouvellement imprimées à Paris, par Germain Hardouyn, imprimeur et libraire juré de l'université de Paris, demourant entre les deux portes du Palais, à l'enseigne de Saincte Marguerite". The illustration is composed of : - a large mark by Germain Hardouyn on the first title leaf (colored in green) - the figure of the anatomical man on the back of f. A2 - 13 large figures engraved in the text, brightly colored and enhanced with gold, including : 12 in medallions with gold edging and ornamented (Saint John the Evangelist, The Arrest of Christ - on a page without borders-, The Annunciation, The Announcement to the shepherds, The Adoration of the Magi, The Flight into Egypt, The Coronation of the Virgin, The Crucifixion, Pentecost, The Immaculate Conception - in reality, wood of the Annunciation repeated -, Bathsheba at the Bath, The Holy Trinity), and 1 in a rectangular frame with golden border (Adam and Eve). - 17 small figures engraved in the text in round medallions, for the three other evangelists and the saints. With the exception of pp. A1 r°, A3 v° and B7 v°, all pages have a beautiful historiated and colored frame. Many capital letters painted in gold on alternating red or blue background. The following 9 leaves are missing: D6 (which should certainly include a figure representing the Visitation), E4 & E5 (which should certainly include a figure representing the Nativity), F4 & F5 (which should certainly include a figure representing the Presentation in the Temple), I4 & I5 and N4 & N5. Small old scratches on the title (missing the words 'impresse Parisius') and on the colophon (missing the words 'imprimées à Paris par' and 'imprimeur et libraire'), very slight soiling on pp. H3 v° and H4 r°. Brunet underlines the rarity of the books of Hours printed by the Hardouyns when they are rubricated and illuminated: "There are however rather precious copies, because of the paintings and the decorated letters which decorate them. It seems that these letters in gold and in color are the work of Germain Hardouyn, 'in arte litterarie picture peritissimus'..." (Brunet, V, 1628.) Printer, bookseller (juror of the University of Paris) and talented illuminator, as Brunet has just pointed out, Germain Hardouyn is the son of Guillaume Hardouyn (living in Paris on the Pont Notre-Dame since 1476) and the brother of Gilles Hardouyn (who established himself at the end of the Pont Nostre Dame in 1509 and remained there until 1521). At first a bookseller and associate of his brother Gilles, with whom he published exclusively books of hours, he became a printer temporarily in 1522, then permanently from 1526. He died in 1541; his widow succeeded him at the same address. Precious book of hours printed on vellum, very rare with its borders and illuminated and colored at the time, in a very good state of conservation. Bibliographers cite only the editions without borders. (Lacombe, 394 for the edition without borders; Deschamps and Brunet, Suppl. I, col. 618-619 for the edition without borders, but mentioning a copy on vellum with the colored figures; Van Praet, Catalogue, g, p. 84, n°232; Brunet V, 1628 and following for the gothic hours printed by Hardouyn, father and son).