La journée chrestienne, de laquelle tout devot et bon catholique se doit fidellement servir, pour parvenir au but de son entreprise, quy est la vie éternelle; propre et tres necessaire a tous desireux de se sauver

with a contribution by Alonso de Cabrera

[Northern France (Rouen?), 17th century]

[22], 378, [2], 124, [1], 408-460 (printed), 14, [2] p. | 8vo | 128 x 79 mm

An engrossing French hybrid prayer book—not simply in the sense that manuscript has been augmented with print, but equally for how the manuscript content fundamentally relied upon and was influenced by print. Consider the compiler's note on the title verso: "This book has been taken and researched from several authors, both old and modern, and for the convenience of our near ones, and of all those who seek their salvation" (Ce livre a esté pris, et recherché de plusieurs autheurs tants anciens, que modernes, et pour la commodité du prochain, et de tous ceux qui rechercheront leur salut). We're endlessly fascinated by the countless manuscripts compiled deep into the age of print. They represent texts that, for any number of reasons, could not be satisfied by the printing industry. They frequently partake of both worlds, manuscript and print alike, this being a perfect example: a manuscript compiled and even translated from print, illustrated with intaglio print, and augmented with lettepress text removed from a printed book. There's even visual evidence of print's influence: The ora pro nobis and miserere nobis in the litanies, written parallel to the fore-edge, echo a mis-en-page commonly found in small-format printed devotionals of the time. ¶ The book is a tour de force of devotional resourcefulness, building the kind the pesonalized experience that any publisher couldn't possibly have matched. Preceding the title, which we take from p. [5], are a few words on sin, plus a single-leaf guide to confession, pointing the reader to relevant pages herein. Following the title is a monthly calendar of feast days, typical of those found in books of hours, this followed by calendars specifically for feast days celebrating Christ and those for the Virgin Mary. Next follows a substantial section of morning prayers, including those to recite when getting dressed (p. 7-11); a section of evening prayers; a prayer for undertaking new projects; a few prayers for typical quotidian activities, like leaving the house and entering a church; prayers for Mass; prayers to accompany the sacraments, including one for the sick, and many for Communion; prayers for the Virgin Mary; a sprawling structured program of prayers, conduct, and meditations for each day of the week, with a Litany of the Saints; prayers before meals, and a prayer against gluttony; a Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus and Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary; a few prayers against plague; a French translation of Alonso de Cabrera's Tratado de los escrupulos y de sus remedios (1599 and 1606), a rare work for which we find a single auction record only; a printed Office for the Dead; and a comprehensive table of contents for the volume. ¶ The volume retains something like the structure of a book of hours, and might reasonably have been inspired by that ubiquitous genre. It is in part broadly divided by time, for example, with its morning and evening prayers. It features a calendar at front, and contains some of the standard Latin prayers you'd find in one, especially those for Mass. We find occasional antiphons and hymns, too, which the owner might well have sung to themselves (e.g. Asperges me on p. 12, Veni creator spiritus on p. 17). But the scribe's own assertion that they've drawn on plusieurs authors to compile it, with unexpected additions like Cabrera's Tratado, point to something heavily customized. ¶ Illustrated with seven etched and engraved plates: five bound within the text, and one mounted to each paste-down. The illustration facing p. 124 of the Tratado is signed by Jean Matheus (1590-1672), that facing p. 84 of the main text by Jean Messager (1580-1649), and the portrait of Gaspar de Bono on the inside rear cover is the work of Michael van Lochom (1601-1647). The remaining (facing p. 198, 324, and 355) are unsigned, but all are fine, sharp work. ¶ We suspect the manuscript was produced in northern France, perhaps not far from Rouen. The calendar includes Saint Romanus of Rouen (October 23), that city's patron saint; Saint Austrebertha (February 10), 7th-century abbess at Pavilly, located some dozen miles northwest of Rouen; and Saint Adjutor (May 1), who died at Tiron in 1131, and here mentioned by way of Hugh of Amiens, Archbishop of Rouen. The illustrations suggest 17th-century production, and other elements point to same. The scribe retains old spellings like estre instead of être, prestre instead of prêtre, luy instead of lui; the looped flourish on the p is modeled in calligraphy books of the 17th century, the first half especially; and the binding would certainly be at home in the 17th century. ¶ A dynamic witness to the ongoing co-utility of print and manuscript.

CONDITION: Contemporary black leather simply tooled in blind, retaining one brass clasp. Written entirely on laid paper in a neat cursive hand. ¶ Printed office trimmed close, just barely shaving some lines, not affecting legibility; first and last couple of leaves a bit dusty. One gathering slightly sprung, but still firmly attached; crack in the leather covering the two lower compartments of the spine; leather covering the joints just starting to split from the bottom, though everything remains firmly intact; small wormhole in top of the front board, and a bit of worming to the inside covers, affecting a bit of the print at back; a little dampstaining to bottom of the front fly-leaf.

REFERENCES: Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page (1998), p. 237 (ours hardly qualifies as a luxury item, but useful context: "Luxury devotional manuscripts made an unexpected return to fashion in France during the reign of 'the Sun King,'" Louis XIV, reigned 1643-1715); Yann Sordet, Histoire du livre et de l'édition (2021), p. 445 ("manuscript diffusion remained until the end of the 18th century an important mode of book diffusion. Various reasons explain this choice for certain works or for certain corpora: economic constraints, the desire to control the circulation of texts, imperatives of prudence and discretion."); William H. Sherman, Used Books (2008), p. 94 (on 16c hybrids: "The work of recovering and interpreting such books is still in its early stages," and suggesting the importance of examples dating at least into the 17th century)

Item #790