Printed Book of Hours (use of Rome); In Latin and French, printed and illuminated on parchment

CHARMING TINY PRINTED BOOK OF HOURS WITH EXPERTLY ILLUMINATED METALCUTS IN AN UNUSUAL OBLONG FORMAT, In Latin and French, printed and illuminated on parchment in Paris, c. 1536. Dimensions 143 x 76 mm., 90 folios, complete, 32 lines printed in Roman font in black ink (justification 118 x 47 mm), single-, double-, and triple-line initials in gold paint on alternating red and blue grounds, 14 metal-cuts, hand-illuminated in full color with gold borders. BINDING: Nineteenth-century brown leather with gilt-ruled frame, gold-tooled spine, worn with losses at joints and edges, small scratches and abrasions to the covers. TEXT AND ILLUSTRATION: Printed Books of Hours, like this rare example, consciously imitated illuminated manuscripts. In this particularly appealing volume by the Hardouyn Workshop, fourteen metalcuts are so vibrantly and expertly painted that they are practically indistinguishable from illuminated miniatures. This is a very rare imprint, not in Lacombe (1907) or Brunet (1860–1865); very likely Moreau-Renouard, 1972–2004, vol. 5, p. 105, no. 194, BP 16 108201, Bohatta, 1924, no. 1177 (listed in these sources is a single copy sold by L. Rosenthal, Munich, Cat. XXII, no. 4032, no date, 188?). PROVENANCE: Printed in Paris by Germain Hardouyn in the sixteenth century, likely c. 1536 (includes an almanac for the years 1536–1548); likely sold in Munich by Rosenthal in the 1880s, as listed in the Rosenthal Catalogue XXII, no. 4032; belonged to Noel F. Barwell (1879–[1953]?), his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown. CONDITION: Some folios with wear, discoloration, and minor damage from handling, f. 42 with loss of paint, faded ink to lower corner; increased wear to last quire, with creasing to parchment from f. 79 onward, f. 90 slightly offset. Full description and images available (BOH 223/TM 1271).