In-8o format, i (modern paper) + 92 + i (modern paper) unnumbered paper leaves, no visible watermark, complete, 12 quires (collation A-L8 M4), leaf signatures on the first two leaves of the quire, except in quire A and M, where only the first leaf has a signature, in quires A-C the first leaf is signed only with a majuscule letter, thereafter followed by a roman numeral: A, B, B.ii, C, C.ii, D.i, D.ii. ... M (sig. I.ii signed in error h.ii) (justification: text space inside the borders c. 106 x 60 mm.), printed in black ink in a type resembling Gothic bastarda script (type 64G, 80G, 130G) on 26 lines, blank spaces for 1- to 2-line initials, FULL METALCUT BORDERS ON EVERY PAGE, TWENTY-NINE SMALL METALCUTS, NINETEEN FULL-PAGE METALCUTS including Pigouchet’s printer’s device (sig. A), lacking the inner corner (c. 25 x 15 mm.) of the first leaf (sig. A), a small hole (c. 20 x 5 mm.) in the lower border of G7, tears on F4 and H2 and a few minor tears, water stains in the lower corners of C1-C4 and a few minor stains, worm holes in the upper margins of sig. L1-end (repaired on the last two leaves), overall in excellent condition. Bound c. 1900 in light brown morocco over pasteboards, covers blind-tooled with a double frame of triple fillets and fleur-de-lys in corners, a small coat of arms in the center: “calice entre deux lettres M sommé d’une crosse episcopal,” spine with four raised bands blind-tooled with fleur-de-lys and double fillets, edges painted golden yellow, leather slightly worn in corners, in overall excellent condition. Dimensions 166 x 110 mm.
Philippe Pigouchet (fl. 1488-1518) was a renowned French printer-bookseller and engraver, who enjoyed an excellent reputation as a printer of Books of Hours. This is an early example of his work, notable for its cycle of metalcut illustrations designed by the Master of the Grandes Heures Royales (the first series used by Pigouchet). Surviving in excellent condition, this is a rare edition, known in only three other copies, two of which are complete, as is our copy. The customization of the text for use of Lyon is noteworthy, since editions for use according to regional liturgies became increasingly scarce in the context of the progressive standardization of the printed Book of Hours in the sixteenth century.
Provenance
1.This Horae ad usum Lugdunensem (Hours for use of Lyon) was printed in Paris by Philippe Pigouchet for the libraire Toussaint de Montjay, and is dated July 30, 1495 in the colophon on sig. M4, “le penultime jour de Juillet. mil.cccc.iiiixx et quinze.” (See below for the colophon in full.)
2. Binding made c. 1900 for a modern prelate whose (invented?) arms are included on the front cover.
3. Modern bookseller’s marks in pencil on the pastedowns.
Text
sig. A, [Pigouchet’s printer’s device];
sig. Av, [Almanac / Table of movable feasts for 1488-1508 in seven columns], “Almanach pour. xxi. an.”;
sig. A2, [Zodiac and bloodletting practices], “Quand la lune est en aries leo et sagittarius il fait bon saigner au colerique. Feu. ...”;
sig. A2v-A8, Calendar in Latin, one page per month, feasts in two columns, below the feasts are Cisiojanus verses in French, “En Janvier que les Roys venus sont...” (cf. Rudy and Stuip, 2010);
sig. A8v-B3v, Gospel Pericopes: A8v-B1v, John; B1v-B2, Luke; B2r-v, Matthew; B3, Mark;
sig. B3-B7v, Passion according to John;
sig. B8-E8v, Hours of the Virgin (use of Lyon): B8-C6v, Matins; C7-D2v, Lauds; D3-D6, Prime; D6v-D7v, Terce; D8-E1, Sext; E1v-E2v, None; E3-E5v, Vespers; E6-E8v, Compline;
sig. F1-F2v, Hours of the Cross;
sig. F3-F4v, Hours of the Holy Spirit;
sig. F5-G4, Penitential Psalms and Litany (beginning on sig. G1v), including St. Irenaeus of Lyon;
sig. G4v-I5v, Office of the Dead (use of Lyon): G4v-I3, Matins; I3v-I5v, Vespers;
sig. I6-L4v, Suffrages: Holy Trinity, Holy Father, Christ, Holy Spirit, Salve sancta facies, Obsecro te, O intemerata, Stabat mater, St. Michael, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, Sts. Peter and Paul, St. James, St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, St. Christopher, St. Sebastian, St. Denis, all martyrs, St. Nicholas, St. Claude, St. Anthony, St. Anne, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Catherine, St. Margaret, St. Barbara, St. Apollonia, and St. Genevieve;
sig. L5-L7, Short petitions in Latin for different situations and petitioners with rubrics in French, Quand on lieve le calice d’y, Quant on prent la paix, Quant on veult recevoir le corps de nostre seigneur iesuchrist, Quant on l’a receu, Contre la tempeste, Pour le roy, Pour impetrer grace des pechez, Contre la tentation de la chair, Pour quelque tribulacion, Pour l’amy vivant en tribulacion, Pour ceulx qui vont en voyage, Pour nous bienfacteurs, Pour les amis qui sont en necessite, Pour le tien amy qui est mort, and Pour le pere et la mere;
sig. L7v-L8v, Seven prayers of St. Gregory, preceded by a long rubric in French;
sig. M1-M4, the prayers Missus est Gabriel and Te deprecor ergo mitissimam;
sig. M4, [Colophon], Ces presentes heures a l’usage de Lion furent achevees par Philippe pigouchet libraire de l’universite de paris, le penultime jour de Juillet.mil.cccc.iiixx.et quinze. Pour toussains demontjay libraire demourant en la rue de la herpe pres saint Cosme ; [sig. M4v, blank].
Published references: GW no. 13184 (Online Resources); ISTC no. ih00346500 (Online Resources); Bohatta, 1924, I, p. 153; Lacombe, 1907, no. 35; Claudin, 1901, II, pp. 17-25, Hillard, 1989, no. 1034.
This book was printed by Philippe Pigouchet. Only three copies of the edition are recorded in public collections: Paris, Bibliothèque de Mazarine, Inc 817-2; Hildesheim, former Dombibliothek (lacking the first leaf, see Ernst 1908-1909, vol. I,I, p. 164); Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Inc. 512.
Illustration
sig. A1, Pigouchet’s printer’s mark with the wild people (Renouard no. 919);
Twenty-nine small metalcuts (one repeat):
sig. B1v, Luke;
sig. B2, Matthew;
sig. B3, Mark;
sig. I6v, God the Father blessing;
sig. I7, St. John holding the body of Christ;
sig. I7, Pentecost;
sig. I7v, St. Veronica;
sig. I8, Virgin and Child with a patron;
sig. K3, Crucifixion with Mary and John;
sig. K4, St. Michael;
sig. K4v, St. John the Baptist;
sig. K4v, St. John the Evangelist;
sig. K5, Sts. Peter and Paul;
sig. K5v, St. James as pilgrim;
sig. K6, St. Stephen;
sig. K6, St. Lawrence;
sig. K6v, St. Christopher carrying Christ Child;
sig. K7, Martyrdom of St. Sebastian;
sig. K8, St. Nicholas resuscitating three youths;
sig. K8v, St. Claude;
sig. L1, St. Anthony the Great;
sig. L1v, St. Anne teaching Mary to read;
sig. L1v, St. Mary Magdalene;
sig. L2, St. Catherine;
sig. L2v, St. Margaret;
sig. L2v, St. Barbara;
sig. L3, St. Apollonia;
sig. L3v, St. Genevieve;
sig. M1, Virgin and Child with a patron (the same as on sig. I8);
Nineteen full-page metalcuts:
sig. A2, Bloodletting;
sig. A8v, Martyrdom of St. John the Evangelist in boiling oil;
sig. B3v, Arrest of Christ;
sig. B8, Annunciation;
sig. C7, Visitation;
sig. D3, Nativity;
sig. D6v, Annunciation to the Shepherds;
sig. D7, Adoration of the Magi;
sig. E1v, Presentation in the Temple;
sig. E3, Massacre of the Innocents;
sig. E6, Coronation of the Virgin;
sig. F1, Crucifixion;
sig. F3, Pentecost;
sig. F5, David in prayer;
sig. G4v, Three living;
sig. G5, Three dead;
sig. I3v, Lazarus and Dives;
sig. I6, The Holy Trinity (Mercy Seat);
sig. L8, Mass of St. Gregory.
The extensive marginal narratives include zodiac signs, labors of the months, Creation, Passion of Christ, Life of the Virgin and Life of Christ with typological readings from the Old Testament, animals, grotesques, birds, insects, plants and flowers.
Philippe Pigouchet (fl. 1488-1518) began his career as an apprentice in the printing shop of Antoine Caillot and Louis Martineau in 1483, before becoming a libraire-juré and printer from 1488 until 1515 (Renouard, 1965, pp. 431-432). He died before March 12,1518. For eighteen years, from 1488, he collaborated with the printer-bookseller Simon Vostre, whom Claudin calls the most famous Parisian printer after Vérard (Claudin, 1901, II, p. 509). In addition to Books of Hours, Pigouchet was also known for the publication of French literature, theological treatises, and Latin classics. A dedicated study on the printer Philippe Pigouchet is long overdue.
Pigouchet printed two other editions of the Book of Hours for the use of Lyon: one in 1492/3, which survives in only one very fragmentary copy (GW 13175), and one in 1496/7 for Simon Vostre, which survives in only two copies, of which one is complete (GW 13192).
The illustrations in our volume were based on designs by the Master of the Grandes Heures Royales made around 1490 for Simon Vostre (Tenschert and Nettekoven, 2003, vol. 1, nos. 7-11; earlier literature often refers to them as Pigouchet’s “set 1”). Nettekoven suggests the Master of the Grandes Heures, who can possibly be identified as the printer, Pierre Le Rouge, was likely the teacher of the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne de Bretagne, variously known also as the Master of the Apocalypse Rose of the Sainte-Chapelle, and now identified as Jean d’Ypres (Nettekoven, 2004, pp. 60-61, 90). The metalcuts are often crowded with several figures, each characterized by a quantity of details. Interiors are often decorated with floral tapestries and abound in different ornaments, which augments the decorative program of the large ornaments on the columns framing each miniature. A notable characteristic of this master’s style is to place unusually large flowers in the background, as in the Visitation (sig. C7). Not long after our book was printed, Pigouchet began using a different set of cuts designed by the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne de Bretagne (designed in 1496-1498).
The importance accorded to the Office of the Dead is evident with its diptych opening, representing the Three Living and the Three Dead, the only text to receive a diptych. Pigouchet appears to have been especially drawn to representing death, as is shown also in the following year, 1496, when he developed the most complete set of danse macabre borders, used thereafter repeatedly in his Books of Hours for Simon Vostre (Cameron-Pesant, 2016, p. 230).
Printed Books of Hours were one of the mainstays of Parisian publishers and printers in the Renaissance; countless editions were produced between 1488 and 1568. This is an early, and thus very interesting, example of the genre. The new technology of printing introduced Books of Hours, a prayer book for the laity, to a broader audience. Members of the growing urban middle class were eager clients for these books.
Literature
Avril, F. and N. Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à peinture en France: 1440-1520, Paris, 1995, pp. 268-270.
Bohatta, H. Bibliographie der Livres d’Heures: Horae BMV, Officia, Hortuli Animae, Coronae BMV, Rosaria und Cursus BMV des XV und XVI Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1924.
Cameron-Pesant, S. “Les ‘Horae’ à l’usage d’Autun imprimées pour Simon Vostre (v. 1507): examen de l’exemplaire conservé à McGill,” Renaissance and Reformation 39:4 (2016), pp. 215-252.
Claudin, A. Histoire de l’imprimerie en France aux XVe et XVIe siècles, 5 vols, Paris, 1900-1914; reprint Nendeln, Liechtenstein, 1971-1976.
Ernst, K. Incunabula Hildesheimensia, 2 vols, Hildesheim, 1908-1909.
Hillard, D. Catalogues régionaux des incunables des bibliothèques publiques de France, vol. 6: Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris, 1989.
Lacombe, P. Livres d’heures imprimés au XVe et au XVIe siècle, conservés dans les bibliothèques publiques de Paris, Paris, 1907. Available online:
https://archive.org/details/livresdheuresimp00laco_0
Nettekoven Ina. Der Meister Der Apokalypsenrose Der Sainte Chapelle Und Die Pariser Buchkunst Um 1500, Turnhout, Brepols, 2004.
Reid, D. K. “The Hours of the Usage of Langres, c. 1502, Printed by Philippe Pigouchet for Simon Vostre,” Ph.D. thesis, University of California, 1974.
Renouard, P. Les marques typographiques parisiennes des XVe et XVI siecles, Paris, 1926-1928.
Renouard, P. Répertoire des imprimeurs parisiens, libraires, fondeurs de caractères et correcteurs d’imprimerie, Paris, 1965. Available online (Gallica):
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65711282
Rudy, K. M. and R. E. V. Stuip. “Martin fights in July, and he strikes St. Vaast with the font: A Cisiojanus and a Child’s Alphabet in Oxford, Bodleian, MS Rawlinson Liturgical E 40,” Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes 19 (2010), pp. 493-522.
Tenschert, Heribert and Ina Nettekoven. Horae B.M.V.: 158 Stundenbuchdrucke der Sammlung Bibermühle, Rotthalmünster, Antiquariat Heribert Tenschert, 2003, vol. 1, nos. 7-11.
Online Resources
Incunable Short Title Catalogue (ISTC), no. ih00346500
https://data.cerl.org/istc/ih00346500?style=expanded
Gesamtkatalog der wiegendrucke (GW), no. 13184
https://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/docs/GW13184.htm
Library of Congress, Book of Hours, Paris, Pigouchet, 1500 (with a later cycle of metalcuts based on designs by the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne of Brittany)
https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667085/
BOH 228
