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FRENCH ILLUMINATOR.
Illuminated leaf from a Book of Hours.
France, circa, 1480.
Illuminated leaf on vellum, 145 x 95 mm., with one 2-line initial and eight 1-line initials in gold on alternate red and blue grounds, eight line-fillers in the same colours, decorative panel border on each side of leaf decorated with red and blue flowers and acanthus leaves; 16 lines of text in a lettre bâtarde; in very good condition.
A fine and delicately decorated leaf from a fifteenth-century French Book of Hours. The text comes from the Penitential Psalms, the illuminated initial 'B' opening Psalm 31 'Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates et quorum tecta sunt peccata', ('Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered'). Usually following the Hours of the Cross and the Hour of the Holy Spirit, these Psalms were recited to help one resist temptation to commit any of the Seven Deadly Sins.
The leaf is from the collection of the medical bibliographer Sir Edward Ford and the original French bookseller's mount still bears his stamp.
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