Book of Hours. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, Use of Rome, in Latin, Florence, circa 1470-1480, 251 vellum leaves in a fine, clear Italian gothic hand, 12 lines to a page, 12 leaves of Calendar at front, five full-page illuminated leaves in gold and colours, each incorporating a large historiated initial D in blue, pink and green on a gold ground, with illuminated borders in Florentine Renaissance style, decorated with flowers, foliage and fruit, putti, gold studs, etc., lacking a sixth full-page illuminated leaf before folio 237, seven larger (four-line) illuminated initials in gold and colours, numerous two-line initials in gold with blue penwork decoration extending into the margins, alternating with two-line initials in blue with red penwork marginal decoration, contents generally fresh and clean with wide blank outer margins, all edges gilt, Dyson Perrins printed bookplate to front pastedown with an additional circular Dyson Perrins label above (numbered 77), and another Perrins Collection printed label to rear pastedown (numbered 134), 19th century red velvet binding, with remains of Dyson Perrins circular printed label to foot of spine, silver clasp and catch, upper inner hinge partly detached, spine somewhat faded, small 8vo, sheet size 89 x 59 mm (3 x 2 1/4 ins) QTY: (1)NOTE:Provenance: Leo Olschki, Florence, by 1912, from whom purchased by C. W. Dyson Perrins; Sotheby's London, Dyson Perrins sale, November 1960, lot 132; Alan G. Thomas, Bournemouth (his printed catalogue description inserted at the front of the volume); Ralph Ewart Ford (1897-1974), precision engineer and founder of Fords (Finsbury) Ltd. In Bedford. A member of the Bibliographical Society, he formed one of the largest collections of English Bibles in England. During the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, a selection of the rarest and most important early English Bibles from Ralph Ford’s collection went on display in a touring exhibition across England, including the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey.Literature: Sir George Warner, Descriptive Catalogue of the Illuminated Manuscripts in the library of C. W. Dyson Perrins (1920), 77.Text:Calendar (f. 1-12); Officium B.V. Marie secundum consuetudinem Romane curie (f. 13-102); Officium mortuorum (f. 103-166); Septem psalmi penitentiales and Litany (f. 167-198); Officium sancte crucis (f. 199-230); Officium parvum sancte crucis; the shorter Hours of the Cross (f. 199-230); Hours of the Holy Spirit (f. 237-251).Illumination:Folio 13, Office of the Virgin. Historiated initial D of the Virgin and Child; the border containing three medallions with half-length figures of Evangelists or prophets; at the foot of the page two putti support a laurel wreath left blank for a coat-of-arms.Folio 103, Office of the Dead. Historiated initial D containing a skeleton; in a medallion in the lower border, a bearded hermit contemplates a skull which he holds in his hand.Folio 167, Penitential Psalms. Historiated initial D, with David holding a psaltery; a medallion in the lower border shows the bleeding head of Goliath on a charger.Folio 199, Hours of the Cross. Historiated initial D with Christ carrying the Cross; a medallion in the lower border contains the Cross on a mound, against a background of blue sky.Folio 231, Shorter Hours of the Cross. Historiated initial D containing a gold cross (or patonce) on a blue ground patterned with gold; the Image of Pity (Christ, half-length, standing in the Sepulchre, showing the wounds) in the lower border.A typical Florentine production of the later 15th century in very good condition throughout. The Calendar, which appears to have been written in a different hand from the rest of the manuscript, refers to a number of saints common in Florentine feast days, including Zenobius, Francis, Reparata, and Leonardo.The renowned bibliophile Charles William Dyson Perrins (1864-1958) was the son of James Dyson Perrins, owner of the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce factory. He amassed one of the most important book collections in the world, especially strong in medieval illuminated manuscripts. The latter were sold after his death in three major auction sales at Sotheby's between 1958 and 1960. Manuscripts from the Dyson Perrins library now reside in a number of prominent institutions around the world including the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection at the Library of Congress.'Perrins was a collector of the vintage and calibre of Yates Thompson, Fairfax Murray and Pierpont Morgan - giants beside whom even Sir Sydney Cockerell and St. John Hornby seem of human size - and one whose place such contemporary collectors of MSS as Dr Martin Bodmer, Mr William S. Glazier and Major J. R. Abbey can hardly aspire to fill... The fact is that the Perrins Collection, which incorporated many Fairfax Murray MSS, is (except for Sir Chester Beatty's, which is now semi-institutionalized in Dublin) the sole survivor of the great MS collections formed during the early years of the century. There are, indeed, fine Renaissance MSS still on the shelves at Holkham and other English and Scottish houses. It is theoretically possible that the Bibliothèque Nationale or the Bodleian or the Morgan Library might go bankrupt and be sold up; but to the extent that any department of bibliophily depends on the periodic return to the market of treasures which nowadays gravitate ever more frequently to institutional ownership, this sale and the two to come may well prove to be not merely a landmark but a terminal.' (The Book Collector, Winter 1958, pp. 354-357).
