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This lavish Book of Hours ("The Browne Hours") was made for the wealthy English merchant John Browne and his wife Agnes. The couple are portrayed as supplicants before the Mass of Saint Gregory on fol. 8v, and John Browne's trademark appears in the border of that page and also inside the back cover. The volume is remarkable in many aspects. It retains its original fifteenth century binding, complete with silver clasps inlaid with miniatures of the Virgin and Child and Veronica's veil. John and Agnes's names are inscribed on the reverse of these clasps. The name of the binder is stamped on the leather of the covers: Anthony de Gavere. The text of the Hours of the Virgin in this book is especially sumptuously illuminated, with one full-page and one large miniature opening each of the individual hours. Unusually, the Hours are interrupted between Lauds and Prime by a series of suffrages. In addition to the usual Penitential Psalms, this book contains the Passion Psalms and the Psalter of Saint Jerome. The papal tiara has been erased on fol. 8v and the commemoration of Thomas Becket has been struck through, testifying to this manuscript's post-medieval English history.
Support: Parchment; Extent: 153; 225 x 165 mm bound to 241 x 172 mm; Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto; Collation: Uncertain
One column of twenty lines; ruled in red ink; evidence of pricking; written area: 125 x 85 mm
Gothic--textualis quadrata
Twenty-four full-page miniatures, eight large miniatures, twenty-one historiated initials, all with partial or full spray borders; numerous smaller initials and line-fillers in red, blue, and gold throughout
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.
In Mass of Saint Gregory, his papal tiara has been rubbed out on f. 8v; rubrics (an indulgence?) erased on facing page, f. 9r. text is crossed out on ff. 20r-20v (Suffrage of Saint Thomas Becket). Saint Margaret's face has been effaced on f. 35v
This manuscript was made for the wealthy English merchant John Browne and his wife Agnes; the fifteenth century binding was done by Anthony de Gavere, a member of a prominent family of Flemish bookbinders active from 1459 to 1505; his name is recorded in the inscriptions stamped into the borders of the four decorative panels on the front and back covers; the two clasps that contain miniatures depicting the Virgin and Child with an angel (upper) and Saint Veronica holding the Sudarium (lower) are inscribed on the reverse with the names of John and Agnes to further personalize the manuscript for its owners
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.
Flanders
Third quarter of the 15th century
Original fifteenth-century dark brown calfskin; by Flemish bookbinder Anthony de Gavere; blind-stamped panels with birds and animals in vines, peasants dancing, angels; inscribed "ANTHONIUS DE GAUERE OB LAUDEM XPISTI LIBRUM HUNC RECTE LIGAUI"; silver clasps inlaid with miniatures on vellum behind rock crystal windows, showing Virgin and Child and Saint Veronica, etched on reverse are the names "John Browne" and "Angnes Browne" with John Browne's trademark
Latin
Made for John Browne the Younger (d. 1476) and Agnes Browne of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, 1460-1470; "Tho. Rosary," on flyleaf, c. 1720; "The gift of [Margaret] Lady Ayloffe [1704(?)-1797] to John Topham [1746-1803], Esq. May the 9th 1783," inside front cover; Sir Henry St. John Mildmay of Dogmersfield, Hampshire, England (bookplate of Dogmersfield Library on front flyleaf), c. 1820; his sale, Sotheby's, London, April 18-20, 1907, no. 6; Quaritch, London, 1907; P.A.B. Widener, Philadelphia; Joseph E. Widener, Philadelphia, 1915; given by his children, Josephine Widener Wichfeld and Peter A.B. Widener, to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1944, in memory of their father
Flanders
Third quarter of the 15th century
Latin
Made for John Browne the Younger and Agnes Browne of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, 1460-1470; "Tho. Rosary," on flyleaf, c. 1720; "The gift of [Margaret] Lady Ayloffe [1704(?)-1797] to John Topham [1746-1803], Esq. May the 9th 1783," inside front cover; Sir Henry St. John Mildmay of Dogmersfield, Hampshire, England (bookplate of Dogmersfield Library on front flyleaf), c. 1820; his sale, Sotheby's, London, April 18-20, 1907, no. 6; Quaritch, London, 1907; P.A.B. Widener, Philadelphia; Joseph E. Widener, Philadelphia, 1915; given by his children, Josephine Widener Wichfeld and Peter A.B. Widener, to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1944, in memory of their father (provenance)
This lavish Book of Hours ("The Browne Hours") was made for the wealthy English merchant John Browne and his wife Agnes. The couple are portrayed as supplicants before the Mass of Saint Gregory on fol. 8v, and John Browne's trademark appears in the border of that page and also inside the back cover. The volume is remarkable in many aspects. It retains its original fifteenth century binding, complete with silver clasps inlaid with miniatures of the Virgin and Child and Veronica's veil. John and Agnes's names are inscribed on the reverse of these clasps. The name of the binder is stamped on the leather of the covers: Anthony de Gavere. The text of the Hours of the Virgin in this book is especially sumptuously illuminated, with one full-page and one large miniature opening each of the individual hours. Unusually, the Hours are interrupted between Lauds and Prime by a series of suffrages. In addition to the usual Penitential Psalms, this book contains the Passion Psalms and the Psalter of Saint Jerome. The papal tiara has been erased on fol. 8v and the commemoration of Thomas Becket has been struck through, testifying to this manuscript's post-medieval English history.
In Mass of Saint Gregory, his papal tiara has been rubbed out on f. 8v; rubrics (an indulgence?) erased on facing page, f. 9r. text is crossed out on ff. 20r-20v (Suffrage of Saint Thomas Becket). Saint Margaret's face has been effaced on f. 35v
This manuscript was made for the wealthy English merchant John Browne and his wife Agnes; the fifteenth century binding was done by Anthony de Gavere, a member of a prominent family of Flemish bookbinders active from 1459 to 1505; his name is recorded in the inscriptions stamped into the borders of the four decorative panels on the front and back covers; the two clasps that contain miniatures depicting the Virgin and Child with an angel (upper) and Saint Veronica holding the Sudarium (lower) are inscribed on the reverse with the names of John and Agnes to further personalize the manuscript for its owners
Gothic--textualis quadrata
Twenty-four full-page miniatures, eight large miniatures, twenty-one historiated initials, all with partial or full spray borders; numerous smaller initials and line-fillers in red, blue, and gold throughout
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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