Customer Reviews

The Grandes Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry; Biblioth`Eque Nationale, Paris.

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This manuscript is in itself unique: it is the largest book of hours I know of, and was famous for this as well as for its quality throughout Europe - even if few people every will have laid eyes on it. After the death of the Duke of Berry - the extraordinary bibliophile who commissioned it - it was passed through royal libraries and proudly owned as a special treasure. You can see why when leafing through this stunning facsimile reproduction. If you ever wondered what it may have felt like to be sitting in the Duke's medieval library, burying himself in the glories of this volume that had cost a fortune and the efforts of a host of the best-known artists in the land, then here's your chance. Page after page, the real-size and real-colour (including gold) facsimiles get you as close as any book ever will. To exaggerate slightly, I get almost as big a thrill out of owning this book, and being able to leaf through it at will, as the royals of medieval Europe will have done. This is facsimile publishing at it superb best.

The title says it all. I am exstatic with this book of hours. It illustrates the richness of colour, art and and imagination used to create it. At first look I thought of its simplicity of style while attaining this master piece for Books of Hours. The colours are bright and true as if it had just been made. Of all the Jean, Duke of Berry books of hours I possess, this one is the most striking of all. The full manuscript has close to 100 full pages of exquisit coloured plates and has the most beautiful calligraphy for that time.
Needless to say the book is worth the cost.