Pages from a Little Book of Hours, Antique Chromolithograph, 1849

A facsimile of two facing pages of a tiny devotional book, reproduced at the size of the original within a gray mount printed on the sheet. The left page carries a small miniature and a block of Gothic text with a gold initial; the right carries a prayer with rubrics in red and a line of display capitals. Sprays of gold ivy run down both margins. The sheet is lettered as facsimile pages of a small book of hours, manuscript of the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal.

This is one of the chromolithographic plates of Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, second volume, Paris, 1849, edited by Paul Lacroix with Ferdinand Sere as artistic director. The work was among the first large French publications to rely on color lithography throughout, and its plates were drawn directly from manuscripts, textiles, armor and goldsmiths' work in the public collections of Paris, Brussels and the German cities.

Books of hours are the medieval manuscripts most people have heard of, and a facsimile opening shows what a complete one actually looked like in the hand. The scale is the point: these were made small enough to carry. The sheet is modest and quiet and suits a bedroom or a small private room rather than a public wall. The gray printed mount around the two pages is part of the plate itself and was drawn to show how small the original book is, so the sheet should never be trimmed into it. Soltau drew a number of the best plates in this volume and this is among his most delicate.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.