[L. Rousseau] - Livres d'heures [105 compositions enluminées ; reliure maroquin de Lesort] - 1889

Magnificent modern Book of Hours, decorated on every page with beautiful manuscript illuminations, watercolor-painted and enhanced with gold and silver, inspired by 14th-century medieval manuscripts. Includes more than a hundred ornamental compositions created by Rousseau.

Perfectly crafted copy in a binding signed by Lesort in full olive morocco (bradel), with a smooth spine, title stamped in gold, and the binder's name at the foot. Wide inner lace, guards and turn-ins lined with moiré silk. Initials 'I.P.' embroidered on the silk of the first turn-in. Gilt edges. Under a rigid slipcase lined with silk inside.

Entirely assembled on tabs. Text in two columns in Latin with the French translation alongside. Includes the Ordinary of the Holy Mass, the Marriage Ceremonies, and the Marriage Mass. Concludes with four blank pages framed and titled: Family Memories.

Beautiful testimony to the revival of medieval illumination at the end of the 19th century. In very good condition, with an impeccable binding. Interior fresh and clean, some pages have a slight offset from the ones before. Finely illuminated ornaments. Very good copy.

[L. Rousseau]
Books of Hours
Paris Bouasse-Lebel and Massin, no date [1889]
8vo (19x15.5cm); [unpaginated, 106 illuminated pages]