A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Canon. Liturg. 63

Summary Catalogue no.: 19251

Contents

Book of Hours, Use of Rome
Language(s): Latin
(fol. 1)
Calendar
(fol. 13)
Pericopes from the Gospels
(fol. 20b)
Office of the Virgin
(fol. 121)
Penitential Psalms
(fol. 136v)
Penitential Psalms with Litany
(fol. 147)
Rubric: Hore de Sancto Cruce
(fol. 153)
Rubric: de Sancto spiritu
(fol. 158v)
Office for the Dead
(fol. 222)
Additional prayers; Obsecro te

When the prayer Obsecro was added, the volume belonged to a lady (224v)

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
1 + 221 + 5 + 1 fol.
Dimensions (leaf): 143 × 100 mm.
Dimensions (written): 63 × 44 mm.
Dimensions (binding): 101 × 75–76 × c. 30 mm.
(book closed)

Condition

Imperfect. Leaves containing miniatures and illuminated borders are missing after fols 20a, 43, 82 and 84

Layout

12 lines

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander i. 616, Pl. XLVI

Good miniatures at the beginning of the Hours of the Lady and the subsequent principal parts of the volume, e.g. fol. 121r and fol. 153r

Good borders, with ivy-sprigs

Good initials

Binding

16th century, late, or 17th century, Italian?: pasteboards; dark brown polished leather, tooled with blind and gilt lines, a gilt frame and corner-pieces, and gilt centrepieces of the Crucified Christ (front) or Virgin and Child (back), each amidst gilt stars; spine with blind and gilt lines and a gilt stamp; remains of two clasps with (lost) straps of similar gilt leather; edges gilt, gauffered (worn). Sewn on five double cords (medieval sewing?). Top of spine repaired with new leather, 20th century?, Bodleian

History

Origin: 14th century, end ; France, Paris

Provenance and Acquisition

The word 'Lorenese' is written on the inside of the last cover

Record Sources

Description adapted (August 2025) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1897). Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1966). Binding: B. C. Barker-Benfield, Bookbindings of Canonici Manuscripts: A Survey of Early and Non-standard Bindings, Mostly Italian, in the Canonici Collection of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (Oxford, privately printed, 2020). Extent, leaf dimensions, layout and additional desciption of the contents from van Dijk (1957)
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 339

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 4: Books of Hours (typescript, 1957), p. 202

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-08-21: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1897)