Book of hours facts for kids

A book of hours is a breviary containing prayers, Psalms, antitphons, and other materials to be recited at the canonical hours. These books were popular during the Middle Ages for common use among the nobility and the clergy. One of the most famous is the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry.

Images for kids

• 

  Book of hours, Paris c. 1410. Miniature of the Annunciation, with the start of Matins in the Little Office, the beginning of the texts after the calendar in the usual arrangement.

• 

  An early 15th century, French Book of Hours (MS13, Society of Antiquaries of London) open to an illustration of the 'Adoration of the Magi'. Bequeathed to the Society in 1769 by the Revd Charles Lyttleton, Bishop of Carlisle and President of the Society (1765-8).

• 

  Opening from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, c. 1440, with Catherine kneeling before the Virgin and Child, surrounded by her family heraldry. Opposite is the start of Matins in the Little Office, illustrated by the Annunciation to Joachim, as the start of a long cycle of the Life of the Virgin.

• 

  Even this level of decoration was more rich than that of most books, though less than the lavish amounts of illumination in luxury books, which are those most often seen reproduced.

• 

  A full-page miniature of May, from a calendar cycle by Simon Bening, early 16th century.

• 

  The lavish illusionistic borders of this Flemish book of hours from the late 1470s are typical of luxury books of this period, which were now often decorated on every page. The butterfly wing cutting into the text area is an example of playing with visual conventions, typical of the period.(Among the plants are the Veronica, Vinca, Viola tricolor, Bellis perennis, and Chelidonium majus. The butterfly is Aglais urticae. The Latin text is a devotion to Saint Christopher).