The incunabula September 16th, 1498 edition,

« the most famous of Hours printed by Pigouchet »

(François Avril and Nicole Reynaud. B.N.F.) is illustrated by Anne of Brittany’s master.

An exceptional copy, printed on vellum,

with wider margins than the B.N.F.’s copy (210 mm for 200 mm)

preserved in its beautiful 16th century binding.

Paris, Philippe Pigouchet, September 16th, 1498.

BOOK OF HOURS USE OF ROMA.

Paris, Philippe Pigouchet for Simon Vostre, September 16th, 1498.

4° [210 x 141 mm] of 96 ll., maroquin fauve, double filet doré, mention dorée dans un petit cartouche

en haut des plats, médaillon doré au centre, traces de liens, dos orné, tranches dorées. Reliure du XVIè

siècle.

The most famous edition of the Hours printed by Pigouchet for Simon Vostre, is dated September 16th

1498 [...] This edition is entirely illustrated and decorated after the painter’s drawings (except for the

typographic mark of Pigouchet and for St Gregoire’s mass) (François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à peintures en France, 1450-1520, n° 147).

GW, 13253.- Brunet, Heures, n° 44. - Lacombe, n° 64. - Pellechet, 5910, - Goff, H395.

A superb incunabula edition of Simon Vostre’s Hours, printed in gothic type by Philippe Pigouchet.

Attributed to the Master of the Very Small Hours of Anne of Brittany, the illustration includes the Anatomical

man, the Holy Grail, engravings showing Zodiac signs in the calendar borders and 21 large engravings

showing scenes from the Bible (Judas’s kiss, Jesse’s tree, Visitation, Nativity, The Pentecost, Adoration of

the Shepherds, Crucifixion….). The text is in large borders with 66 woodcuts on 12 pages.

The Master of the Very Small Hours of Anne of Brittany is also known as the Master of the Apocalypse Rose

because he designed the famous rose window of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris commissioned by the French

king Charles VIII (reigned 1483-1498). Occasionally, the artist is also referred to as the Master of the Hunt

of the Unicorn after his designs for the famous suite of tapestries at The Cloisters in New York. The Master

of the Très petites Heures played an important role in the production of printed Books of Hours, which

flourished during the last quarter of the fifteenth century. He supplied many series of woodcuts to illustrate

numerous editions, designs that are also found in manuscripts he painted. Typically his figures are rather

stocky and carefully framed within complex Gothic architectural elements. The Master might have been the

eldest son of the Coëtivy master, a certain Jean d’Ypres, registered in Paris as a maître-juré (see Avril and

Reynaud, 1993, no. 147, pp. 268-270, and Ina Nettekoven, 2004, pas sim.).

Renowned for his printed and sometimes hand-colored Books of Hours, Simon Vostre associated himself

with a number of printers and typographers who printed the books he then marketed as a stationer. This is

the case of Philippe Pigouchet, whose production covers a period of about thirty-five years and who executed

a large number of Horae for Vostre. Along with Antoine Vérard, Vostre developed sequences of marginal

cuts that illustrate such themes as biblical typology, Dance of Death, Triumphs of Cesar, and Apocalypse.

These border vignettes run parallel to the main text, but are staggered and do not relate to it directly, thus

providing secondary narratives for the reader to follow.

Printed Books of Hours were one of the mainstays of the Parisian publishers and printers; numerous editions

were produced between 1488 and 1568. The new technology of printing, at least in theory, introduced Books

of Hours, a prayer book for the laity, to a broader audience. Certainly the growing urban middle class was

one of the chief purchasers of these books. In practice, many Books of Hours were finished by hand; in some

cases, so luxuriously, that we can doubt they were a less expensive product. Artists often supplied initials

and borders, and colored the printed illustrations so that in the case of many books it is difficult to distinguish

the illustrations from those in illuminated manuscripts. Some printed Books of Hours were left in their

pristine black-and-white condition, just as they came off the press (even though they had painted initials, line

endings, and ruling added by hand).

“We only present the works the Master of Anne of Brittany intended to print through this Book of Hours.

The position took by the Master of Anne of Brittany towards printing is one of the most interesting moments in Book History at the end of the 15th century. He’s conscious of the artistic and commercial issue of the new

technique. He dares to give up color and focuses on drawings.

His very readable drawings are perfect for printing and Parisian printers fight over his drawings. They will be used by Jean du Pré, Simon Vostre, Antoine Vérard, Guillaume Eustace, Gilles Remacle, Gillet Hardouin,

Jean Petit and Geoffroy de Marnef. Philippe Pigouchet, in his Books of Hours edited by Simon Vostre will produce the most beautiful and elegant interpretations of his drawings.

This most famous edition of the Hours printed by Pigouchet for Simon Vostre, we present here is dated

September 16th, 1498. It’s one of the most richly illustrated with 22 large engravings after the Master of Anne of Brittany’s drawings. To compensate for the color he used in his miniatures, The Master of Anne of Brittany

overwhelms the backgrounds with characters and scenes. This 1498 is entirely illustrated and decorated with the Master’s drawings, while the 1496 edition contained some engravings by a poorer artist. This 1498

edition adds to the 1496’s edition an engraving on the left page.

Announciation and Jesse’s tree ; for Penitential Psalms, Bethsabée’s bath, similar to the one of the Séguier Hours (Chantilly, musée Condé, ms. 82) is facing Urie’s death ; for the Office of the Dead, a Last Judgment

similar to the one of the Salting Hours (Londres, Victoria and Albert Museum, ms. 2388- 1910) is facing the

scene of the evil rich man’s feast, and not his damnation like in the Very Small Hours or in the Le Camus Hours (Chantilly, musée Condé, ms. 81) ; à sexte, a very original Shepherds’ homage to the virgin and to the

newborn Christ is facing Adoration of the Magi. This edition contains 2 new plates for Anatomical man and angels holding a cup, Adoration of Trinity and Deposition.

In this edition borders are richly decorated with many small scenes and characters also drawn by the Master

of Anne of Brittany : next to scenes from the Bible are some secular scenes showing children’s games, deer hunting or men picking fruits and labors of the Months which allow to establish decisive links to the Master’s

tapestries. Some decorative compartments closer to the Renaissance influence, with putti, fairy tale creatures and dragoons on stipple engravings with acanthus and fleurons, are similar to the ones of The Very Small

Hour”s. Initial letters are decorated by a specialized illuminator. Hist. : Legs Salomon de Rothschild, 1922.

Bibl. Claudin, 1901, pp. 25-53, ill.; Courboin, 1923 pp. 62-67, pl. 120-131 Blum, 1928, p. 41, pl. XLVI ;

Desjardin, 1940-1947, I, pp. 77-78, ill. ; Souchal, 1973 ; Harthan, 1977, p. 170. » N. R. (B.N.F.)

Printed Books of Hours like the present example illustrate the transition between the world of the medieval

manuscript and the age of the printed book. In contents, use, and layout they follow in the tradition of the

medieval illuminated Book of Hours–lavishly illustrated texts for private prayer that have been called the

“best sellers” of the late Middle Ages. Technically, however, such books are the products of print technology.

The handwritten script of the past has been simulated with type, and hand-painted miniatures have been

replaced by detailed metalcuts that still follow the traditional iconography of the manuscript Book of Hours,

but add richness and complexity through additional parallel narratives.

A remarkable and beautiful vellum copy, with wider margins than B.N.F.’s copy described by François

Avril and Nicole Reynaud « Les Manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520 », n° 147 (210 x 141 mm for

200 x 134 mm for B.N.F.’s copy), rubricated in red and blue, with initial letters heightened in gold, preserved

in a 16th century morocco binding with a crucifixion medallion and the following antiphons gold letters on

covers: antiennes Virgo jesse floruit / virgo deum et Hominem genuit.

58 000 €