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HORAE, use of Rome, in French and Latin. Paris: Simon Colines, 1543.
HORAE, use of Rome, in French and Latin. Paris: Simon Colines, 1543. 4° (232 x 160mm). Almanac for 1543-68. Printed in red and black. Architectural title-border, ornamental border to each page, two dated 1536 or 1539, 14 large woodcuts, each incorporating its own architectural border, 7 signed with a Lorraine cross and one dated 1537, fine criblé initials, lombards. Painted armorial on title, pages ruled in red. (Occasional small stain or light spotting.) Contemporary Parisian calf gilt, sides tooled to an interlace pattern, edges gilt and gauffered (minor scratches and light stains, repairs at joints extending onto top board edge, front hinge loosening). Provenance : ?Ayrault de Saint-Hénis de la Roche or de Lambertie (coat-of-arms on title)-- William Beckford (1759-1844; bequeathed to:) -- 10th Duke of Hamilton (Hamilton Palace Library sales, Sotheby's 4 July 1882, lot 898 (attributing the binding to Clovis Eve £2.6 to Quaritch) -- Damascene Morgand, Repertoire , no. 184, 1893 'superbe exemplaire') -- Walter Hirst (bookplate). First Colines Book of Hours in quarto format (preceded by an octavo edition the same year) and THE FIRST USE OF THESE IMPORTANT WOODCUTS. A product of the Tory workshop, they show a marked development in the art of woodcut illustration in their full and elaborate shading and display of Italianate motifs. The fullest expression of their art is in the black-and-white medium of print: 'As any opening ... will demonstrate, this was a concious attempt to preserve the manuscript tradition of Horae entirely by means of the printer's art, without the necessity for hand decoration' (Mortimer). The black arabesque borders may be the earliest use of arabesque design in French printed books. Several copies survive bound by workshops active for Grolier and his circle (Schaefer, Harvard). Brunet 331; Mortimer, Harvard French , 306; Schreiber, Colines 206.