The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This Book of Hours was made in England (probably London) circa 1470. It is known as the "Mostyn Hours" after an eighteenth-century owner, and contains a calendar (fols. 1r-6v), the Hours of the Virgin (fols. 9r-116v), the Seven Penitential Psalms (fols. 118r-143v), the Gradual Psalms (fols. 145r-158r), the Office of the Dead (fols. 159r-205v), the Commendation of Souls (fols. 207r-227r), the Passion Psalms (fols. 228r-243r), and the Hours of the Passion (fols. 244r-276v) as well as various prayers and accessory texts. Unusually, the artist has painted miniatures showing scenes from the Passion of Christ at the opening of each of the Hours of the Virgin, as opposed to the more common infancy scenes. These full-page miniatures and their facing pages are framed by dense foliate borders inhabited by animals and birds. The artist has been linked with a number of other late fifteenth-century English manuscripts (and is known as "Illustrator B of Fitzwilliam Museum 56" after his work on a book now in Cambridge) but is thought on stylistic grounds to have trained in Rouen. Remarkably, this lavish manuscript also retains its original leather binding stamped with images of saints.
Support: Parchment; Extent: i+278+i; 145 x 100 mm bound to 154 x 110 mm; Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto; Collation: 1 (6), 2-35 (8); Catchwords: Original catchwords, some trimmed away, on fols. 14v, 22v, 30v, 38v, 46v, 54v, 62v, 70v, 78v, 86v, 94v, 110v, 118v, 126v, 134v, 166v, 174v, 182v, 190v, 198v, 214v, 222v, 230v, 238v, 246v, 254v, 262v, and 270v
One column of fifteen lines; ruled in red ink; pricking visible; written area: 76 x 48 mm
Gothic--textualis quadrata
Fourteen full-page miniatures and fourteen illuminated initials, both with full foliate borders; some inhabited with animals, birds, and other figures; seven inhabited initials; numerous smaller illuminated and colored initials throughout, some with marginal sprays
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
Erasures of some text on fols. 40r-v and 135r-v
Added prayers in a later hand, fols. 277r-278v and back flyleaf
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
England
Circa 1470
Original fifteenth-century brown calf; blind-stamped with decorated panels showing Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Barbara, Saint Catherine, and Saint Nicholas, repeated on upper and lower covers; leather and gilt brass clasp; edges gilded and gauffered with lozenges and circles
Latin
Dr. Thomas Hobart; Thomas Mostyn MP, no. 91 in his collection (eighteenth century); sold by Sotheby's in London July 13, 1920 (lot 63); A. Chester Beatty; sold by Sotheby's May 9, 1933 (lot 56); Philip S. Collins, no. 9 in his collection (twentieth century); given by his wife, Mary Schell Collins, to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in memory of her husband (1945); various unidentified shelfmarks inside front cover and on flyleaf 1, including "MS No. 90," "W MS 100, III," and "(23)" as well as an unidentified "IM" monogram
England
Circa 1470
Latin
Dr. Thomas Hobart; Thomas Mostyn MP, no. 91 in his collection
This Book of Hours was made in England (probably London) circa 1470. It is known as the "Mostyn Hours" after an eighteenth-century owner, and contains a calendar (fols. 1r-6v), the Hours of the Virgin (fols. 9r-116v), the Seven Penitential Psalms (fols. 118r-143v), the Gradual Psalms (fols. 145r-158r), the Office of the Dead (fols. 159r-205v), the Commendation of Souls (fols. 207r-227r), the Passion Psalms (fols. 228r-243r), and the Hours of the Passion (fols. 244r-276v) as well as various prayers and accessory texts. Unusually, the artist has painted miniatures showing scenes from the Passion of Christ at the opening of each of the Hours of the Virgin, as opposed to the more common infancy scenes. These full-page miniatures and their facing pages are framed by dense foliate borders inhabited by animals and birds. The artist has been linked with a number of other late fifteenth-century English manuscripts (and is known as "Illustrator B of Fitzwilliam Museum 56" after his work on a book now in Cambridge) but is thought on stylistic grounds to have trained in Rouen. Remarkably, this lavish manuscript also retains its original leather binding stamped with images of saints.
Erasures of some text on fols. 40r-v and 135r-v
Added prayers in a later hand, fols. 277r-278v and back flyleaf
Gothic--textualis quadrata
Fourteen full-page miniatures and fourteen illuminated initials, both with full foliate borders; some inhabited with animals, birds, and other figures; seven inhabited initials; numerous smaller illuminated and colored initials throughout, some with marginal sprays
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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