The signatures run from A to Z; that is to say, there are twenty-three octavo sheets.
The copy of the octavo Hours of 1527 at the Arsenal is a lovely volume printed on vellum, with a number of manuscript prayers in French added at the end. The calligraphic execution of these prayers, which are surrounded by borders in imitation of those in the book, is wonderfully fine. The colouring of the plates and the illuminating of the initial letters and of those at the ends of paragraphs make the volume of great value. It is still in its original binding (once very sumptuous, but now sadly out of repair), on the covers of which one can distinguish interlaced C's, barred S's, and star-shaped figures formed of two triangles turned end for end. Can it have belonged to Catherine de Médicis, who became the consort of Henri II in 1533? Unluckily it lacks two essential leaves, the first and the last.
3
IN the same year, Tory had printed by Simon Dubois ('Silvius') a quarto edition of this same book of Hours, 'suivant l'usage de Paris.'
It is dated October 22, 1527. It contains the new license, and comprises thirty-six quarto sheets, folded two by two according to custom, and forming eighteen octavo signatures, A to S. The book is printed throughout in the gothic type of that time, with the borders 'à la moderne' mentioned in the license of 1524, consisting of arabesques of flowers, insects, animals, etc. There are twenty-six complete borders, which recur in regular order. We find again here, as in the first quarto, thirteen large subjects interspersed through the text. But a noteworthy fact is, that although these subjects, with two exceptions,[247] are the same as those in the first quarto, they are of entirely different designs, appropriate to the 'modern' borders and type. It would be difficult to carry further the love of artistic harmony. Neither the borders nor the illustrations bear Tory's mark, and I doubt whether they are his. Perhaps the design was Perreal's and the engraving by one of the artists employed by Tory, who must then have had an organized workshop, if we may judge from the number of works which he produced about that time.
Dibdin speaks enthusiastically of this edition of the Hours, in his 'Bibliographical Decameron'; he even reproduces four of the large cuts by which it is illustrated.[248] He says that it is the 'most beautiful work' of that sort that he has ever seen, and expresses great surprise that the arabesques have been cast aside. I confess that I do not share his feeling. The book seems to me badly done, both from the artistic and from the typographical standpoint: the borders do not harmonize, they are out of proportion, and the engraving does not impress me as beyond reproach. But Dibdin's opinion is, as everybody knows, very unreliable; his carelessness is proverbial. Indeed, he gives us a striking instance of it in this very passage: for he tells us that this book was published by Tory of 'Bruges,' and that it has on the title, the Pot Cassé of Simon du Bois[249]; two errors in one line!
Among the small cuts at the foot of the pages, we observe the shield of France; the crowned F; the crowned salamander; the crest of the king's mother, 'party' of France and of Savoy, with her widow's girdle; her initial (L), crowned; the shield 'party' of Navarre and of France, with the letters H and M intertwined (the initials of Henri d'Albert, King of Navarre, and Marguerite, sister of François I, whose marriage had been celebrated January 24, 1526[250]); the Pot Cassé, no. 1, that is to say, in its simplest form, etc.
The exact title of this book is as follows: 'Hore in laudem beatissime Virginis MARIE: secundum consuetudinem ECCLESIE PARISIENSIS.' (Here the Pot Cassé, no. 9.) 'Venales habentur PARRHISIIS, APUD MAGISTRUM GOTOFREDUM Torinum Biturigicum: SUB INSIGNE VASIS EFFRACTI: GALLICO SERMONE AU POT CASSE.'—All the words here printed in small capitals are printed in red. On the verso of the title-page is the license, dated September 5, 1526. At the end of the book is the following: 'Ces presentes Heures a lusage de Paris, privilegiees pour dix ans commenceans a la presente date de leur impression, furent achevees dimprimer le vingt deuxiesme iour Doctobre, Mil cinq cens vingt sept, par maistre Simon du bois, imprimeur, pour maistre Geofroy Tory de Bourges, qui les vend a Paris a lenseigne du Pot Casse.' (Here the same mark as on the first page.)
It will be noticed that, although Tory felt bound to give the title of the book in Latin, he could not forbear to print his address in French.