The miniatures are attributed to the Master of Jean d’Albret, a painter who produced a large number of book decorations between c.1490-1510. He painted both secular and religious volumes in collaboration with Parisian printer Antoine Vérard, and is known to have illustrated several other Books of Hours now held by public institutions. The miniatures in BYU’s manuscript could be studied on their own our in conjunction with the artist’s other works.

The Book of Hours contains several texts in French – some of them quite unusual. They include a Prayer on the Passion of Christ and a Life of Saint Margaret, both recorded in V. Leroquais, Les livres d’heures manuscrits de la bibliothèque nationale. Another text, the “Fifteen Joys of Mary Magdalene,” appears to be unrecorded and might be another potential source of scholarship.

To access a fuller description of the Book of Hours, search the library’s catalog for the title “Book of Hours, Use of Reims.” For further information about the manuscript, contact Curator Maggie Kopp.

For a class examining domesticity in Victorian culture and literature, Professor Jamie Horrocks has designed a research and writing assignment using rare journals from the Victorian Collection. Students choose and examine a volume from a journal with domestic-related content and write a scholarly introduction to the journal, its scope, intended audience, and general contents. The students also analyze a particular type of content found in the volume (for example, a cooking column or fashion plates). Then, the students use this information to compose an analytical essay based on what they have observed about the periodical, its authors, content, and audience.