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

MS. Douce 77

Summary Catalogue no.: 21651

Contents

Book of Hours

Fragment of a Book of Hours, containing:

The Office for the Dead (fol. 1: wanting the last leaf); Prayers to the Virgin, in French (imperfect, fol. 44); the Fifteen Joys, in French (fol. 47); the Seven Requests, in French (fol. 52: wanting the last leaf); [Jacobi de Benedictis] hymn, 'Stabat mater' (imperfect at beginning); and suffrages

Language(s): Latin and Middle French

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i + 69 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 8.375 × 6.25 in.
Dimensions (leaf): 205 × 150 mm.
Dimensions (written): 106 × 63 mm.

Layout

15 lines

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander i. 709, Pl. LIV. From the circle of Maître François and assistants. Belonging to the group attributed by Paul Durrieu to Jacques de Besançon and closely related in style to Bibliothèque de Genève, MS. fr. 160. See also, MS. Douce 253

Fine miniatures

Fine historiated borders Every page has an elaborate border with grotesques, birds, and flowers. Nearly every leaf has the same illumination on the verso as on the recto, but reversed.

Fine initials

Binding

Red velvet, rebacked

History

Origin: c. 1450–1470 ; France

Provenance and Acquisition

Francis Douce, 1757–1834

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834

Record Sources

Description adapted (September 2024) by Stewart J. Brookes from the following sources:
Pächt and Alexander (1966)
S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 4: Books of Hours (typescript, 1957), p. 326
Summary Catalogue (1897)
Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manuscripts Bequeathed by Francis Douce, esq. to the Bodleian Library (1840), p. 9
. Decoration, localization and date follow

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (13 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2024-09-19: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1897)