Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Latin MS 164
- Source
- Manchester Digital Collections
- Library
- The John Rylands Library
- Shelfmark
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- Latin MS 164
- Biblissima authority file
- Language
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- French
- Latin
- Title
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- Kalendar
- Pater noster
- Aue
- Benedicite
- Deus pacis
- Misereatur and Confiteor
- Gospels
- Hours of the Virgin, wanting f. 1 of Matins
- Seven Psalms and Litany
- Hours of the Cross
- Hours of the Holy Ghost
- Office of the Dead
- Lauds
- Obsecro te, wanting first leaf
- Aue cuius concepcio
- Gaude uirgo mater Christi
- Gaude flore uirginali
- Memoriae
- Hymns
- see more
- Agent
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- Preferred form
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- Gregory Page-Turner (1748-1805)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Sir Gregory Page-Turner (b. 1748, d. 1805) 3rd Baronet, landowner and MP
- Page-Turner, Sir Gregory, 1748-1805
- Biblissima authority file
-
- Description
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- Extent:
ff. 303 (iii+299+i) Leaf height: 220 mm, width: 155 mm.
Binding:
Red velvet binding: gold clasps with figures in relief of Moses and Aaron on the clasps, and of the four Evangelists on the portions attached to the covers. The covers are lined with blue morocco tooled in gold.
The binding does not fit and has been padded out at the end with 32 paper leaves (all without watermark) to bring the manuscript to the requisite size
Early 19th century
Decoration:
Every page is bordered fully. Line and leaf work on a plain ground is the basis, with insertions of conventional and naturalistic foliage, etc., in gold and colour. Peacocks are noticeably frequent in the borders. A plain band of gold and lake with black boundary lines and a single white line on the colour separates the text from the border. Initials and line-fillings are on burnished gold grounds. The borders are rich in effect but monotonous in design.
Kalendar-pictures. The zodiacal sign is in a medallion half-way up the border. The occupation in a larger medallion in the lower margin.
1. Jan. Aquarius, nude, kneels On one side and pours from a gold jug into a river. A gateway behind him on right.
2. A man feasting, on a settle, back to a fire-place: round wickerwork fire-screen, and fire-dogs. He is in rich red gown with fur: black and white flat cap. Two servants wait on him, a third with wand guards a buffet of plate behind on right.
3. Feb. Pisces in stream.
4. Two men warm themselves at fire on left: one binds, another carries, a faggot: a fourth cuts down a tree on right.
S. Mar. Aries in landscape.
6. Three men prune vines which are set in pits.
7. Apr. Taurus in landscape.
8. Three ladies sit in a garden and pick flowers. The one on left in blue with tall conical head-dress and veil: the second in purple-red with heart-shaped head-dress: the third in fine red with black head-dress.
May. Inserted leaf without picture: perhaps removed because the picture of Gemini had a shield serving to identify the owner.
9. June. Cancer, crayfish in water.
10. Man cutting hay, woman raking.
11. July. Leo among rocks: den with other lions.
12. Man and woman cutting golden corn.
13. Aug. Virgo among golden sheaves.
14. In barn: two men thresh. A third shovels grain into a sack.
15. Sept. Libra held by a woman: arras and trellis behind and on right.
16. Three men: treading grapes and pouring must into cask.
17. Oct. Scorpius.
18. Man on horseback, harrow attached: another sowing. In ploughed field.
19. Nov. Sagittarius: white centaur shooting backwards to right.
20. Left, huntsman with three dogs, one pulling down a stag. Right, man beating oak-tree for pigs.
21. Dec. Capricorn: lower part a cornucopiae.
22. Boar at bay: man with spear, facing him: three dogs: horseman behind on left. The main series of pictures now begins. The larger ones have arched tops. All are large except where otherwise stated.
23. Pater noster. Above: Christ throned on clouds, in gold robe: angels play instruments on right and left: background of red seraphs. Below: landscape seen over a coloured arras: in the foreground a group of worshippers turned to Christ. In centre a man in red gown, and a lady with tall head-dress and veil. Ecclesiastics on left. A disabled person and poor folk on right.
24. Initial. Noli me tangere. Gold fountain, stork, swans, peacocks, in the border.
25. Ave Maria. Above, the Trinity: the Son (left) with cross, the Father (right) with tiara. Below, in centre the wall of a windowed stone building: left, the Annunciation, the angel flying down: right, landscape with figures: a woman carrying a basket of birds on her head.
26. Credo. In a room: a group of the Apostles seated each with an inscribed scroll bearing his clause of the Creed.
27. Initial. Above, the Trinity: below, a group of worshippers looking up.
28. Benedicite. Above, Christ in dark purple stands blessing a loaf of bread, between Peter and Paul (?) seated with books. Below, a group of seven people seated and standing: including two who may be the Virgin and Joseph.
29. Deus pacis. In an apsidal building, Christ at the head of an oval table on which are a flagon and two bowls. The Apostles stand about it.
30. Confiteor. In a church. A confessor in black on a wooden seat, on left a lady penitent in red with tall head-dress and transparent veil covering her face kneels to him. Three others, one a lady, sit, stand, or kneel on right.
31. Sequences of the Gospels. John, in red, sits writing, on the island. Devil on right about to steal his inkbottle. Eagle on left, excited. Deer and birds on the island. In air, half-length, the Christ of the vision. Two swords proceed from His mouth. The seven stars are on L" the seven candlesticks on right. Initial. Sea and ship.
32. Luke, in blue, writing in a fine room with books on floor and tables. The ox couching.
33. Matthew in a fine wooden roofed hall. The angel holds the ink.
34. Mark. His desk is conspicuous. The lion on left. The first leaf of Matins of the Virgin is gone.
35. Lauds. The Visitation: in a fine landscape. A maid attends the Virgin and an older woman, Elizabeth. htitial. Half-length of Joseph with stick and keg on shoulder.
36. Prime. Joseph and Mary adore the Child: also three small angels. The stable on left. The shepherds approach in the distance. Initial. A shepherd.
37. Tierce. The angel with scroll puer natus est, and shepherds. A good picture. There is a stone well-head in centre. The woman who so often appears in this scene is putting a wreath on the head of a shepherd. Initial. Shepherd and dog. (Sext is gone.)
38. Nocte. The Presentation. A maid attends the Virgin. Symeon is not nimbed. The temple has a golden dome. Initial: Joseph with staff and candle.
39. Vespers. The Flight. Joseph leads the ass to right. The husbandman (reaping) and soldiers in the background. Initial: a soldier killing a child. (Compline gone).
40. Seven Penitential Psalms. Inserted leaf, with a bad bright stiff picture of David in prayer, in a courtyard: a table with crown, harp, and ink-pot before him, a curtained canopy behind him. God in the sky.
41. Hours of the Cross. The Betrayal: a fine crowded picture. Malchus lies on left. Jesus holds his ear in His right hand. Peter sheathes his sword. Initial: a soldier in high hat and high boots leads on another. In the border are seven medallions, viz.:
42. The Raising of Lazarus.
43. The Entry into Jerusalem.
44· The sop given to Judas. John lies on Jesus's breast.
45. The washing of feet.
46. Christ wakes the sleeping Apostles.
47. The Agony. The angel holds a cup. Soldiers approach on left.
48. (smaller). Christ standing: on right, two or three soldiers in armour have fallen backwards.
49. Prime. Christ among soldiers before Pilate, who is washing his hands, and speaking or listening to his wife on right.
50. Tierce. The Crowning with thorns. The crown is pressed down upon Christ's head with two staves. A man in front gives Him a reed.
51. Sext. The Nailing to the Cross. The thieves are already hung on T-shaped crosses. The right hand of Christ is being nailed. A man stretches the arm with a cord and places his foot on Christ's body. Another bores the Cross for the nail at the feet. In front a smith is forging a nail.
52. None. The Piercing of the Side. The Virgin has swooned. Magdalene embraces the Cross. The centurion has the scroll uere filius, etc. The legs of the thieves are broken. On right is the man with the reed and sponge. The blindness of Longinus is not indicated.
53. Vespers. The Deposition. The Virgin is supported by John on left. One of the women supports the legs of Christ. Magdalene on right.
54. Compline. The Burial. The tomb is across the front of the picture. The arrangement recalls the Saints Sepulcres. Five figures - two women, the Virgin, John, another woman-stand full face (from left). Joseph and Nicodemus in front bear the body. John touches the shroud. Some soldiers approach in the distance.
55. Hours of the Holy Ghost. Pentecost. Not quite the conventional scheme. The building is shown partly as an exterior. The Virgin is the conspicuolls figure. Initial: two apostles with books looking up.
56. Office of the Dead. Placebo. An interior. A dying man in a canopied bed: nude, with head-cloth. A woman closes his eyes. Nearer the front a woman in a chair reads. On right a row of two friars and four monks sit on a set tie, back to the fireplace. Farther away is a table with holy-water pot, cross, and candle: and near it two men open a chest full of money. Initial: sexton in black cap, purple gown, and black scarf over right shoulder, walks along carrying a handbell (announcing the death). Man fights dragon in border.
57. Matins. Dirige. The office in choir. The hearse has at one end a band of azure semee with fleurs-de-lys or, and the candles borne by mourners on left have shields of the same. Friars, monks, mourners. A man in rich red robe is present as well as the clergy. The spectator looks eastward, and the end of the collin is presented to him.
58. Lauds. Requiem. The funeral in the churchyard. The shrouded corpse is being laid in the grave by one man, two others hold the rich pall above. Mourners are at the head and foot. The priest is sprinkling the holy water. The churchyard which is surrounded by buildings was thought to be the Cimetiere des Innocents at Paris. There is a small square structure with open upper story and conical roof, near the centre of it. The next pictures illustrate the Memoriae. The beginning of a prayer to our Lord is gone.
59. A cuius concepcio. A coped angel meets Joachim and Anna in a landscape: the heads of some Jews are seen on right.
60. The Five Joys. The Virgin praying (in the Temple?). Gabriel with sceptre flies down. On left three maidens in prayer.
61. The Seven Joys. The Virgin crowned and throned, and the Child. Angels play harp, trumpet, lute, organ, and three sing from a noted scroll. Canopy, with arras.
62. Salve regina. A similar picture, but here there are only two angels with lute and organ. The Dove is above the Virgin's head.
63. The Trinity. The Baptism of Christ. Angels on right and left hold the garments. The Dove descends on a ray on which is written in gold hic est filius meus in.
64. St. Michael, in gold cuirass with sword and spear topped by a jewelled cross, stands on one devil and fights another. Behind, in centre, buildings on a hill (Mont St. Michel?), right and left, 'skies' of blue angels.
65. Decollation of John Baptist. The body leans forward out of a window in a castle wall. The swordsman puts the head into a great silver dish held by Salome on left: Herod and others on right.
66. St. Peter with keys at girdle sits in a grated prison (part of a castle) with his hands closely chained together: an angel in white is releasing them.
67. St. Paul falling with his horse. On a ray which smites him is written in gold solus solus cur me percecuris. No other figures.
68. St. Christopher, bound to a column in front on right, is shot by two archers. Behind is the prefect throned among courtiers. An arrow strikes him in the breast and he falls forward.
69. St. Fiacre, in black over white, cuts down a whole row of trees with an axe: spade and pick lie by him. A woman in red on right addresses him.
70. St. Nicholas half length in air, richly vested. In front a ship attacked by two devils who break the mast. Two people in the sea: others in the ship.
71. St. Martin elevates the Host: an angel flies down bearing two blue and gold sleeves. The servers, vested in blue, look up. Martin's chasuble is red. Martin had given his tunic to a beggar. The angry archdeacon had bought him a poor short-sleeved paenula instead, in which he went to celebrate [Beleth, quoted in Golden Legend].
72. St. Anthony in dark habit and skull-cap with stick, bell, and fire at his feet, is attacked and beaten by three devils. His cell and chapel behind.
73. St. 'Oyn' vested in red chasuble consecrated as bishop. Six bishops are present. Two place the mitre on his head. Two deacons in front with book and crosier.
74. St. James the Great beheaded on a block. Pilgrim hat and staff lie in front. Jews on right. Compare the picture by Fouquet from the Chevalier Hours at Chantilly.
75. St. Stephen stoned by three men: one in front gathers stones in a basket. Saul sits on left, another by him. Above, Christ with orb. Red and blue angels on right and left.
76. St. Eustace in red tunic, black hose (or boots), gold spurs, kneels. The stag with the crucifix between the horns goes off on right. Horse and dogs on left and in front.
77. Ss. Gervase and Protase vested in red are raised out of a river by two angels. Spectators in front on right.
78. St. Sebastian (left) is shot at by two archers. A small angel with a crown above him. Troops on right.
79. St. Leger vested in red and mitred sits with bound hands in a building. Two men bore out his eyes. Men look out of windows above.
80. Ss. Cosmas and Damian with bound hands are cast out of a ship in a calm sea. Above, Christ among angels.
81. St. Clarus (first bishop of Nantes) as bishop in blue cope, with crosier, kneels to a Pope attended by two cardinals who stand on Rright under a canopy in an apse. Two other coped figures kneel on left. The Pope is St. Linus, first successor of Peter.
82. St. Claudius of Besançon as bishop in red cope, with cross-staff, stands on left admonishing a bear which is drawing a two-wheeled cart. An ox harnessed tandem-wise in front of the bear looks back at the saint. Four masons in the background are building a church. (The bear had killed one of the oxen and was forced to take its place.)
83. St. Denis in red chasuble and mitre, attended by Rusticus and Eleutherius in blue dalmatics, is seen at the ogee-arched window of a fine stone building. Outside, our Lord, holding the Host and chalice, housels him. Two angels, one holding the cruets, kneel.
84. St. Laurence nude on the gridiron in a low stone enclosure. Three tormentors with forks. Ruler and others stand at his head.
85. St. Katherine being beheaded. The angel breaks the wheels on left. Dead men. Spectators in the distance.
86. St. Margaret bound, back to a stake and tormented with torches by seven men. Olybrius the ruler on right.
87. St. Cecilia in blue kneels, and her husband in red sits, under a canopy with green and gold arras: an angel flies down holding two red crowns over their heads.
88. The foreground is occupied by a view of Paris. The Seine in front. Two bridges with houses on them, leading to the Île Notre-Dame. The Church of Notre-Dame and the Sainte Chapelle are seen. Above, in air, St. Geneviève kneeling in red with candle: a devil on left with bellows: an angel on right.
89. St. Lucy in red on right stands in prayer. Two oxen goaded by a man try vainly to drag her by ropes towards a river on left. Spectators behind. The Divine Hand in the sky.
90. St. Faith on 1eft touches the eyes of a kneeling man with staff: five other blind men and women approach. A gold chapel behind.
91. St. Agatha hung by her hair to a gibbet. Two men torment her with pincers. Spectators on right.
92. St. Avoye in red seen at the window of a stone building, as in no. 83. The Virgin housels her. Two angels kneel holding the cruets.
93. St. Agnes bound, back to a stake; a little lamb at her feet. The flames do not touch her, but invade two groups of men on left and right, one of whom is about to behead her.
94. The Noli me tangere. Magdalene kneels on left, her casket by her. The scene is a garden with trellises. Our Lord carries the Resurrection-cross and banner (white cross on red).
Acquisition:
Sent on approval by Sotheran and Co. 'so as to reach Longford Hall (Enriqueta Rylands's home) July 11th' no year is given, but it was probably in the 1890s). Mrs. Rylands decided to keep it and it came to the Library by her bequest in May 1909 (accession no. R17979).
Layout:
1 column, 14 lines to a page
Collation:
Quire 112, 5 replaced
>
Quire 28
Quire 36
Quire 48, 8 cancelled
Quire 58, wants 1
Quires 6-118, wants 5
Quires 12-148, wants 1
Quire 158, 1 replaced
Quire 168
Quire 178
Quire 188
Quire 198
Quire 204
Quires 21-278
(gap) 282
Quire 298
Quire 308
Quire 3112
Quire 3210
Quire 333?
Quire 348
Quire 358
32 leaves of blank paper, and endleaves
Data Source(s):
Description based on M.R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Latin Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library at Manchester (Manchester, 1921), reprinted with an introduction and additional notes and corrections by F. Taylor (München, 1980), revised and expanded by Joanne Edge.
Subject(s):
Books of Hours
Abstract:
Book of Hours, made in Paris c. 1430.
Format:
Codex
Material:
Parchment.
Provenance:
There are five documents within the manuscript
1. A short description of it when in the possession of Sir Gregory Page-Turner (b. 1748, d. 1805) 3rd Baronet, landowner and MP, ending 'This Beautiful Book remained in the Collections of the Kings of France till the Revolution.'. It has the watermark '1808', that Dr. F. W. Richards, another former owner, lived in St Thomas Street, Winchester, and that in the top left-hand corner of the front endleaf of the manuscript is written, in ink: '✠ G: I : B : R : 1856'.
2. Two notes, dated 1824, one descriptive, headed: Brought from Battlesden Park. The other a note of sale: Revd. (perhaps erased) S. Higgs. Bo' at J. Christies. Nov. 4. 5. 39. 99. 15. O.
3. A letter from Charles Read, Chef des travaux historiques et du Musée de la Ville de Paris, dated 20 November 1867, and addressed to Dr. F. W. Richards, suggesting the sale or loan of the book.
4. A copy of Dr. Richards's answer 22 November 1867, declining to sell.
5. An extract from a printed sale catalogue of Sotheby's, descriptive of the book.
- Extent:
- Rights
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- Provided by The University of Manchester. Zooming image © University of Manchester Library, All rights reserved. Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
