A. Queyroy; A. Gysman - Heures romaines - 1890

[Bible]. Roman hours with figures by A. Queyroy engraved by A. Gusman. Tours, Alfred Mame et fils, s.d. [circa 1890]. 8vo, 516 pp., black morocco, monogram struck in blind at the center of the first cover [HG for Henriette Gascouin], edges decorated with a gold roll, blue moiré doublures and guards framed by a broad gold lace, gold-edged pages, tricolored silk bookmark; in a period slipcase. Prayer book published under the direction of Alfred Mame (1811-1893). The illustration is by the Vendôme-born painter-engraver Armand Queyroy (1830-1893), who renews the repertoire of Parisian prayer books printed around 1500. It was wood-engraved by Adolphe Gusman (1821-1905), master of interpretive engraving. Each page, printed in red and black on laid paper, is framed by a historiated wood-engraved border: scrolls, flowers, birds, animals, musicians angels. The calendar pairs the months with figures of saints, the labors of the months, and the signs of the zodiac. Large full-page compositions: the Nativity and the playing shepherds (“Puer natus est”), the entry into Jerusalem for Palm Sunday, David in prayer for the seven Penitential Psalms, the Virgin of the Seven Sorrows, the portico opening the Proprium of the saints, etc. Latin and French texts: ordinary of the Mass, vespers, proper of the time and of the saints. Black morocco quilt with border and gold monograms, cream satin interior, receptacle lined with pleated satin and a twist, clasp with a button. Gold stamp “V. Palmé - Paris” by Victor Palmé (1834-1904), Paris Catholic publisher. Autograph inscription on a guard: “To my dear Henriette, in memory of a twenty-year friendship, which I hope will be one of always. Louise Chesnelong.” This is the family surname of the Béarnais senator Charles Chesnelong (1820-1899). The book belonged to Henriette Gascouin in Orthez, Béarn, a city where the Gascouin name remains attached to a public park. Provenance attested by 3 devotional images that are first-communion memorials dating from 1901 to 1910: René Gascouin, Pierre Chesnelong, Marie Gascouin and Henri Gascouin. The whole offers a remarkable luxury prayer-book gift presented under the Third Republic and the apex of the Neo-Gothic taste in religious illustration printed. Its meticulous execution makes it a precious object close to the medieval Book of Hours that it pastiches.

Estimate:$168.19

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