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Detailed record for Harley 2985
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| Title |
Book of Hours, Use of Sarum |
| Origin |
Netherlands, S. |
| Date |
3rd quarter of the 15th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Decoration |
12 small miniatures, in colours and gold, in the upper margins at the beginning of each month in the calendar (ff. 1-12v). 19 large full-page miniatures, followed by large decorated initials, with full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 19v, 21v, 23v, 25v, 27v, 29v, 31v, 33v, 35v, 37v, 39v, 41v, 48v, 61v, 71v, 74v, 128v, 140v, 146v); 7 large full-page miniatures probably missing before large decorated foliate initials with full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 13, 65, 67, 69, 79, 95*, 109). 15 large historiated initials, in colours and gold, for suffrages at the end of Lauds in the Hours of the Virgin and for prayers (ff. 54v, 55v, 56v, 57, 57v, 58, 59v, 87, 90 (x2), 90v (x2), 91 (x2), 91v); 3 historiated initials cut out, one for the suffrage to Peter and Paul (f. 56), one for the prayer to the image of Christ (f. 89v), and one for the prayer of Bede on the Seven Last Words (f. 93). 1 large decorated initial, in colours and gold, at the beginning of a prayer (f. 83). Small initials (2 lines) in gold on red and blue grounds. Small initials (1 line) in gold with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Line-fillers decorated in gold and blue. |
| Dimensions in mm |
215 x 150 (115 x 75) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 156 (+ 95[*] and 96[*] mistakenly counted twice; + 3 paper flyleaves at the beginning and 2 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Diced brown calf. |
| Provenance |
Unidentified late 15th-century owner: space for heraldic arms (f. 42).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts. Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
Text page with the suffrage to Thomas Becket cut out, except the upper and lower margins (f. 30).
A shield-shape space left for the arms of a potential purchaser (f. 42) (see Rogers 2002). |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), II, no. 2985.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 16.
The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain (Cambridge: University Press, 1999- ), III: 1400-1557, ed. by Lotte Hellinga and J. B. Trapp (1999), pl. 2.3.
Nicolas Rogers, ‘Patrons and Purchasers: Evidence for the Original Owners of Books of Hours Produced in the Low Countries for the English Market’ in ’Als Ich Can’: Liber Amicorum in Memory of Professor Dr. Maurits Smeyers, ed. by Bert Cardon and others, 2 vols (Paris: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2002), pp. 1165-1181 (p. 1166).
Eamon Duffy, Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayers 1240-1570 (New Haven: Yale, 2006), p. 152, fig. 99. |
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f. 19v
The Trinity |
f. 21v
John the Baptist |
f. 23v
John the Evangelist |
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f. 25v
George and the dragon |
f. 27v
Christopher |
f. 29v
Thomas Becket |
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f. 30
Excised page |
f. 35v
Catherine |
f. 37v
Margaret |
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f. 38
Margaret suffrage |
f. 39v
Barbara |
f. 41v
Garden of Gethsemane |
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f. 61v
Christ before Pilate |
f. 71v
The Deposition |
f. 74v
The Lamentation |
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f. 128v
Souls ascending |
f. 140v
Instruments of the Passion |
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