Something analogous to what I have just described took place with reference to the engravings of Tory's Hours. Having become the property of the Kervers, as we have seen,[391] they were used by them for a long while. We shall mention later the octavo Hours published by Thielman II in 1550, 1552, and 1556, in which he utilized the woodcuts of the edition published by Olivier Mallard in 1541. His son Jacques did better than that: in 1574 he published a large octavo edition of the Hours of the Virgin, in which he used the woodcuts of the quarto editions issued by Tory himself in 1524 and 1527. As the crosses were removed in almost every instance, one might have some right to deny their source, were not the books published by Tory a half century before, at our hand to demonstrate it. Jacques Kerver's book being rare, and of a date subsequent to the period covered by my work, it seems to me that it may be well to give a bibliographical description of it, from the copy owned by M. Chedeau, which M. Potier, bookseller, has kindly furnished me.
'Officium beatæ Mariæ Virginis nuper reformatum et Pii V, pont. max., jussu editum.—Apud Jacobum Kerver, via Jacobea, sub insigni Unicornis.—1574.' Large octavo, with illustrations from the quarto edition published by Tory in 1524-1525, surrounded by borders taken from Tory's quarto edition of 1527, but reduced in size, mutilated, transposed, etc.
Here is a list of the plates:—
- 1. The Annunciation (two plates).
- 2. The Salutation.
- 3. The Nativity.
- 4. The Adoration of the Shepherds.
- 5. The Adoration of the Magi.
- 6. The Circumcision.
- 7. The Flight into Egypt.
- 8. The Coronation of the Virgin.
- These eight plates are repeated three times. Then come:—
- 9. The Triumph of Death.
- 10. David's Penance.
- 11. Jesus on the Cross.
- 12. Pentecost.
Number 8 is taken from the quarto Hours of 1527; but all the others are in the Hours of 1524-1525. Numbers 2 and 12 still bear the Lorraine cross.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Kervers printed also the quarto Hours (1531) which I mentioned on page 201, and in which we find the borders of the Hours of 1524-1525, and the porticoes of the opuscula of 1530-1531. The plates are not signed and cannot be Tory's, but as a list of them may assist in the discovery of this edition, I will mention here those which are at the Bibliothèque Nationale:—
- 1. The Annunciation.
- 2. The Conception.
- 3. The Visitation.
- 4. The Nativity.
- 5. The Circumcision.
- 6. The Resurrection.
- 7. The Descent of the Holy Ghost.
- 8. All Saints.
- 9. The Trinity.
1547
We place under this date three books of Hours which introduce us to certain engravings signed with the Lorraine cross accompanied by initials. 1547 is not the exact date of the engravings to which we refer, for we shall see that they are of earlier execution; but their first appearance is so uncertain that we are forced to fall back upon the definite date supplied by the books in question.