More Books of Hours from BYU Special Collections
The growing demand for Books of Hours in the late 15th and early 16th centuries was met not only by scribes and illuminators who hand-crafted manuscript books, but by printers. In Paris, the center of production for Books of Hours, a handful of printers began to specialize in mass-producing Books of Hours for the growing middle class. Printed Books of Hours were produced using moveable type and wood or metal printing blocks and could be printed on paper or on vellum (animal skin). Printed pages could feature text in red ink, and could be customized by illuminating the illustrations, borders, and initials with colored paints.
BYU owns several examples of printed Books of Hours produced in Paris. Editions include:
- Philippe Pigouchet, 1502
- Thielman Kerver, 1512 (pictured here)
- Nicolas Vivien, 1515
- Germain Hardouyn, 1530
- Simon de Colines, 1543
These books can be found in the library catalog by performing a genre search for “Books of Hours” or by searching for the individual printers by name.