HRC 8 Catholic Church. Book of hours, use of Paris; known as the Belleville hours. France: between 1425 and 1475. 257 leaves: parchment, 121 x 83 mm. Written in Latin and French, Gothic bastarda script. Layout is 14 long lines ruled in red. Decoration includes thirty-nine full-page miniatures with full borders, one smaller miniature in text, and twelve labors of the months; partial floral border in the outside margin of each leaf. Contains Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Hours of the Cross, Hours of St. Catherine, Office of the Dead, Seven Penitential Psalms with litany, several prayers in French, two sets of suffrages, and other devotional texts. Several leaves missing, with loss of text and miniatures: between fol. 18-19 (Matthew), fol. 21-22 (Salutation), fol. 52-53 (Nativity), fol. 54-55 (unidentified), fol. 238-239 (St. Agnes). Binding: Rebound in cream colored alum tawed goatskin over wood boards with two fore-edge clasps in 1988; formerly bound in red velvet over pasteboard (retained as HRC 8a). Provenance: In the second quarter of the 15th century, belonged to Marie de Belleville (b. after 1428), granddaughter of Charles VI of France and daughter of Jean de Harpadenne (d. 1466), Seigneur de Belleville; her name is written in a French prayer (fol. 181r); in the third quarter of the 15th century, it was probably reworked to belong to the Belleville boy depicted in heraldic garments and with the Belleville arms in the lower margin (fol. 51r); acquired by the Ransom Center in 1963 with the "Illuminated Manuscripts Collection" from New York bookseller, Lew David Feldman (House of El Dieff). Use: Restricted from reading room and classroom use due to condition. Facsimile: Complete digital facsimile available. Information folder: Yes
