Customer Reviews

The Tres Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having read negative reviews of the cheap, paperback version of this book, I took a deep gulp and sprang for the expensive hardback. This is a case where spending more for the hardback version is more than worth it. The pictures are very large size format, with the gold intact (unlike the paperback version). The quality of the paintings is excellent. The book is beautiful to display, look at and/or study. I have been copying one of the illustrations, and having a great time.I love medieval illustrated books. I have not found another one in this large a format, with such detail. If you are into illuminated manuscripts, you must have this one, there can be no argument. (Hardback version)

The books begins with an introduction, then many images from the Tres Riches Heures, and at the end there is a commentary of the pictures.

The big problem is that the pictures were made in the sixties, they are fuzzy, unsharp, the colors are not vivid and bright, such a very low quality of photocomposition is no more acceptable at the end of the 20th century. It is high time that a newer edition be made available in English, as is already the case in French.

Several years ago I reluctantly parted with my copy of The Tres Riches Heures in the magnificent 1969 edition published by George Braziller, and I'd been missing it ever since.

So it was with considerable anticipation that I ordered this new Braziller hardcover edition from Amazon at a terrific price. (The same book sells for $125 at the George Braziller website.)

Unfortunately, the 2008 edition, printed and bound in Singapore by Tien Wah Press, bears little resemblance to the stunning 1969 version published in France by Draeger Freres, Paris.

I suspect what we have here is simply a hardback copy of the 1989 paperback edition which Publishers Weekly, in its review printed above, described in extremely negative, and accurate, terms. [Two different 13-digit ISBN numbers appear on the dust jacket: the number on the back inside flap is in fact the same as the paperback edition (!)while the number on the back cover refers to this book.]

The beautiful, illustrated slipcase that graced the original edition has been replaced with a glossy dust jacket. Many pictures seem out of focus--disastrous for these highly detailed and delicate miniatures. The colors are no longer clean and vibrant, and the critical use of gold (gilt)--so radiant in the 1969 book--is gone, and with it, much of the subtle, other-worldly atmosphere.

Additionally, the informative commentaries, which originally appeared on the facing pages, are now grouped together at the back of the book--not an improvement, in my opinion.

In short, this new volume fails to recreate the visual splendor of the original. I am surprised that George Braziller chose to reprint one of its most celebrated and beloved fine art books in such a poor quality edition.

Until a fully-restored version is available, I recommend everyone (myself included) seek out a copy of the 1969 original.

JANUARY 2010 UPDATE: I did seek out, and have received, an excellent used copy of the 1969 edition. Now that I have both books here, sitting side by side, I unequivocally urge you to forget the 2008 version. There is simply no comparison between them. Editorial layout, color reproduction (particularly the use of gilt) are unquestionably superior in the original edition.

Used copies are available from online booksellers, including Amazon. I paid $68.00 for mine, and it was worth every penny. I'll be returning the 2008 version to Amazon right away.

FEBRUARY 2011 UPDATE: Please note that reviews (including this one) of the 2008 Braziller edition also appear under listings for other editions from other publishers. Just to be clear, what you are reading now is my review of the 2008 Braziller hardcover edition. My recommendation is to purchase the original 1969 George Braziller volume, published in France by Draeger Freres, Paris.

Enter the magical medieval pages of the illuminated manuscripts of the gifted Limbourg brothers and discover a world long gone, but one which seems oddly familiar in a storybook sort of way. The colors (nicely reproduced in this hardback version of the book) will dazzle you - the skies were painted with an ultramarine made from costly lapis lazuli. The compositions, drawn in the pre-perspective days of the 15th century, will delight you. Many of the religious illuminations are moving - the Death of Christ captures the grim darkness into which the world has been cast in tones of grey and brown with only the shining gold halo of Christ piercing the gloom; God in his heavenly lunette above the picture looks sadly down on the scene, brilliant amidst reds, blues, and gold. But it is the pictures of the calendar - a wonderful record of daily life among the rich and the poor alike - that will charm you the most. The Duke feasts, the peasants warm themselves before fires, the plowman tills the soil, the farmers shear the sheep, and the pigs forage for acorns. And rising in the background of each of these magical scenes, in regulation storybook fashion, is a shining white castle. This hardcover version is a beautiful book that you will treasure for years.

[A WORD OF WARNING: Inexplicably, my review below of the 1969 original edition of the Tres Riches Heures is now appearing with reviews (including my own) of the 2008 Braziller edition. The 2008 reprint is vastly inferior both in printing quality and editorial layout to the 1969 original. Do not buy it. (See my review of the 2008 printing for more details.)

Also be advised that other editions by other publishers have come and gone over the years, but the 1969 Braziller, slipcased, version is the one to own.]

Review of Tres Riches Heures, 1969 George Braziller edition:

If you love great art, you simply must have a copy of this book.

Originally published in 1969 by George Braziller and lovingly printed in France by Draeger Freres, Paris, The Tres Riches Heures is an artistic wonder, the greatest of all illuminated manuscripts. This book introduced it to a worldwide audience.

Many are already familiar with the breathtaking images from the calendar that begins this Book of Hours. Less well known are the equally beautiful renderings of (mostly) biblical events that comprise the remainder of this devotional book.

I must also mention the highly informative essays and annotations. The authors, John Longnon and Millard Meiss, obviously adored the Limbourg Brothers' masterpiece and made every effort to help the reader understand what makes it so special.

Before the reviews here were written, I bought the latest edition of this book, thinking the more modern the better. However, after noticing the reviews on this page, I got the 1969 edition as well.

As has been observed, there is no comparison between the earlier edition and the latest one. The earlier printers took enormous pains to reproduce accurately the various shades of gold in the illuminations; the later printers appear to be relying on a scan that in general turns gold of any shade to a fairly uniform, drab brown. The use of gold in the earlier edition is fantastic--miniatures like 'The Fall of the Rebel Angels' depict the fallen angels dropping looking as though they are trailing light. In the later edition, this whole effect is lost.

Not only that, the precision of the original drawing is well-depicted in the earlier edition (the printers of this edition, Draeger Freres, have also taken great pains about this); however to my eye, it is lost in the later. The outlines in the later edition are vague: this is particularly striking in the rendering of faces.

This doesn't mean the later book doesn't have a beauty of its own. If nothing better were available, it would deserve high praise. However, seeing that something better is available, I can only award the new edition 3/5. Where this book is concerned, it is well worth taking the time and trouble to find a copy of the edition printed by Draeger Freres.