BREVIARY, use of Rome

BREVIARY, use of Rome

Breviarium, Romanum, ex decreto sacrosancti concilij Tridentini restitutum. Pii 5. Pont. Max. iussu editum. Cum insuper accessit kalendarium gregorianum perpetuum Paris: Jacques Kerver, 1583.

A luxurious large-format Paris binding à la fanfare, showing off its fully developed style. It was assigned by G.D. Hobson to the \'Coeur Empanaché\' bindery, named after a distinctive plumed heart tool, among whose patrons were Emperor Maximilian II, his son-in-law Charles IX, and Henri III. Hobson/Culot subsequently suggested that this shop may be that of Clovis Eve. A.R.A. Hobson (Fanfare Supplément, p. 12*), has noted that some of these elaborate fanfare bindings showing no evidence of original provenance were commissioned by booksellers, and indeed two other copies of this large Breviary published by Jacques Kerver have survived in very similar fanfare bindings, suggesting that Kerver commissioned the bindings for display or presentation. USTC 172227; Hobson, Les Reliures à la fanfare, no. 138; see Hobson/Culot 67.



2 parts in one volume, folio (398 x 260mm). Printed in red and black, text with box-rule, title woodcut, 7 full-page woodcuts, 3 column-width cuts, large printer’s device at end, historiated initials (spotting and browning, occasional small stain). Contemporary Paris olive morocco binding à la fanfare: central oval cartouche and compartments formed by strapwork, compartments filled with hatched foliate and other tools, including a coeur empanaché (plumed heart), leafy sprays, triple fillet border, spine similarly gilt, board edges gilt, gilt edges (rebacked, preserving the decorated backstrip, central oval cartouches with later onlay to match, discreet repairs at extremities, tiny places of wear on sides, endleaves renewed). Provenance: [Quaritch, 1921, no. 110] – Mme Belin (sale 1936, lot 35, pl. XVII, label on rear endleaf, acquired by:) – Maurice Burrus (bookplate, sale Alde, Paris, 2017).