The Book of Hours of Queen Anne de Bretagne

France, fifteenth century
Gothic script

Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (France)

Date of Publication of the Facsimile: 1859-1861
Publisher: Henri Lèon Curmer, Paris (France)
Lithography and Printing: Rose-Joseph Lemercier, Paris (France)
Chromolithography: Kellerhoven (originally from Cologne, but working in Paris)

The Book of Hours commissioned by Anne de Bretagne, Queen of France, contains the Office of the Blessed Virgin and prayers to saints who were particularly venerated in Brittany.

This was the first full facsimile produced in color, thanks to the new technique of chromolithography which was particularly well developed in France by the middle of the last century. It is clear from the list of subscribers to this monumental venture that there was interest in high places for the production of such an artifact: the Emperor Napoléon III, the Empress, and several members of their family, the Pope, the Tsar, the Kings of Spain, of Belgium, etc. The facsimile was delivered to the subscribers in 50 installments over a two-year period. According to a notarized document, registered in Paris on August 17th, 1861, all the 166 stones needed to print the facsimile (which consists of 475 ornamented pages of text and 49 full page miniatures) were to be destroyed after the limited run of 850 copies was completed.

The companion volume to the facsimile also contains a descriptive catalogue of all of the plants found in the marginalia of the Book of Hours.

page 54 (80K)

page 55 (120K)

Petit Prieres