Printing and Reading the Book of Hours: Lessons from the Borders

The extraordinary number of books of Hours that have survived despite centuries of loss and destruction amply attests to their significance for the history of the French illustrated book. Not only do they constitute the 'largest single category of illuminated manuscripts which now exists',  but more than 1600 printed editions of Hours were produced before 1530, ninety per cent of them in France. At the hub of production lay Paris whose printers became the acknowledged masters of the trade: Jean Dupre, Anthoine Verard, Thielman Kerver, Philippe Pigouchet and Simon Vostre, followed by Guillaume Godart and the Hardouyn brothers. These and other French publishers multiplied editions of Hours 'dans des proportions stupefiantes' to satisfy a growing clientele of lay persons eager to possess a personal prayer book. Owning a book, however, did not necessarily imply reading it, and the way in which books of Hours were read and used remains a thorny question, tied not only to the literacy of their owners but also to the techniques and expectations of their printers. It is to these issues that the present study is directed.