In 2015 the Kerry Stokes Collection acquired a printed Book of Hours (LIB.2015.051).1 The book, which belongs to an edition of fourteen known extant copies, was printed on vellum in Paris by Thielman Kerver on 10 September 1522. Kerver died in October or November of that year, probably from the plague, and this was his final imprint. His last Book of Hours was also his finest, issued in a large quarto size and illustrated with numerous printed images and borders throughout the 136 folios. The edition is well known and has been fully described, most recently by Tenschert and Nettekoven, but the Stokes example has not previously been listed among extant copies.

As a product of the printing press, the Stokes Collection book is essentially the same as the other copies in the edition. However, this particular example has been individualised by the inclusion of numerous hand-painted initials and ten large painted illustrations. The purpose of this brief discussion is to characterize the Stokes Collection Book of Hours in the context of both Parisian printed Books of Hours and Kerver's career, and to describe aspects of its program of illustration.

Books of Hours in manuscript and print

Books of Hours were small prayer books owned largely by the laity in the late Middle Ages. Conveniently small and portable, they could be used at home and in church. As treasured items they were often passed down in families and many contain genealogical inscriptions and other records and mementos of ownership. Manuscript Books of Hours were perhaps the most commonly owned type of book in the later Middle Ages and they were even more popular in print.