Unknown, Finely Illuminated Copy of One of Dupré's Earliest Editions: Counterpart to our Book of Hours Alpha, which was Considered Unique

Horae Alpha a in our upcoming Catalogue 100: Horae B. M. V. for the Use of Rome. Paris, (Jean Dupré, around 1487), dating according to Anatole Claudin and GW. Illuminated copy on vellum.

One of the earliest examples of illustrated Parisian book printing, produced by the printer who was responsible for the first ever illustrated incunable in Paris: Jean Dupré. The professionalism and artistic quality of the pictorial decoration is astonishing, especially in view of the rather clumsy first surviving edition of the Book of Hours by Antoine Vérard from 1485, for which no independent illustration series was apparently available. Instead, makeshift set pieces from other editions of religious content were used. It is particularly pleasing that additionally the only fragmentarily preserved copy of the same edition, which we described in 2014 under the number Alpha, and which only allowed very approximate conclusions to be drawn about the actual nature of the edition, this far more complete and also ravishingly illuminated copy has now emerged. This outstanding example shows how much progress the art of illustrated book printing has made in just two years. There is much to suggest that we are dealing here with the first edition with a sophisticated border programme, as Dupré's editions dated 1487 and earlier do not have this special feature, which was to become an important selling point for printed horaries in the following years.

This book is part of the largest collection of printed Books of Hours in the world, which is offered for sale en bloc.

The collection has been extensively documented in Catalogues No. 50 & 75 (nine volumes), available in our online shop. Catalogue 100, where the present copy will be described, will be published in the course of 2024.

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