{"product_id":"royal-plantin-book-of-hours-1600-first-edition-english-binding-fine-plates-rare","title":"Royal Plantin Book of Hours 1600 First Edition in an English Binding","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003eA court-commissioned Plantin Press masterpiece\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eOfficium Beatae Mariae Virginis\u003c\/b\u003e, PII V. Pont. Max. iussu editum. Nunc mandato Serenissimorum Belgii Principum hac augustiori forma excusum. Antverpiae: Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud Joannem Moretum, \u003cb\u003e1600-1601\u003c\/b\u003e, 4to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e-------------------\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eA beautiful first edition of the exceptionally rare Plantin-Moretus Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis, issued in 1600-1 as a documented court commission for Archduke Albert of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Conceived and executed under close supervision, evidenced by direct correspondence between Jan Moretus I and the Archduke’s secretary, Blasius Heuterus, the edition represents one of the most ambitious and materially expansive devotional productions of the Plantin Press at the height of its international prestige.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eMoretus “tentatively accepted a request to print a special book of hours for Archduke Albert” (Bowen), recognising both the opportunity for courtly advancement and the challenge of producing a devotional work of exceptional scale and refinement under princely patronage. The defining feature of the edition, the unusually large and generous type, was expressly mandated to accommodate the Archduke’s failing eyesight. This requirement necessitated a substantial expansion of the text across two volumes, resulting in a physically larger and heavier book than typical Marian offices, and one whose material presence was deliberately prioritised over economy.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eEach copy required approximately 167 sheets of paper, compared to just 92 sheets in the later 1609 edition, an increase of over 80% at a time when paper constituted the single greatest cost in book production. This alone signals the extraordinary level of investment involved. The edition is further distinguished by its rich illustrative programme, comprising 41 engraved plates (including the title vignette) and 25 engraved tailpieces, many of them newly commissioned specifically for this project, alongside numerous woodcut initials, some historiated. Taken together, the scale, typographic clarity, and density of illustration firmly establish the work as a luxury production of the highest order.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eIssued in a strictly limited press run of just 500 copies, of which 35 were reserved for the Archducal household, the edition was offered at 15 florins, fully 25% higher than the later 1609 version, despite that edition containing a greater number of engravings. The disparity is instructive: while the 1609 edition (expanded to 1250 copies) represents a commercially rationalised reworking: reducing paper usage, type size, and per-copy illustration costs, the present 1600-1 edition preserves the original, high-cost conception, in which legibility, scale, and material splendour were prioritised without compromise.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eContemporary sales records further underscore its exceptional character. Unlike Moretus’ smaller devotional works, which circulated widely across European markets, this edition sold in relatively modest numbers, with purchasers typically acquiring only one or two copies at a time, often as a tentative test of demand for such an unusually expensive and substantial book. Its distribution was correspondingly limited and uneven, with comparatively little uptake in major markets such as France, Spain, and England, and a notable reliance on specialist buyers, clergy, and courtly or institutional networks. In both its production and reception, the edition stands apart as an elite devotional work that was never fully absorbed into the broader commercial book trade.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eEncouraged by the partial success of this royal commission, Moretus later issued a revised and expanded edition in 1609, adapting the work for a broader international audience. The present edition thus occupies a uniquely elevated position within the output of the Plantin Press: the original and unreduced realisation of a court-sponsored devotional project, prior to its subsequent commercial adaptation.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e-------------------\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis copy is preserved in a notable near-contemporary English binding of Cambridge panelled type. The binding may plausibly be situated within the brief three-year significant revival of Catholic patronage under the reign of James II of England, a period during which the production and circulation of Catholic devotional books, long suppressed in England, experienced a short-lived but meaningful resurgence. In this context, the survival of a richly produced continental Book of Hours in a fine English binding is of particular historical interest, suggesting ownership within a recusant or court-aligned milieu during one of the few moments in the seventeenth century when such works could be more openly commissioned, used, or displayed.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eIt was subsequently located in the library of the Convent of the Visitation of Our Lady at Shepton Mallet, a house founded in 1814 as part of the renewed establishment of Catholic religious life in England following centuries of suppression. The convent remained active until 1831, and books associated with its library are scarcely seen. The presence of this set within their collection shows its continued use, linking its origins in the Habsburg court to its later use within a reconstituted English Catholic community.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e-------------------\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eEXTREMELY RARE\u003c\/b\u003e. We have been unable to trace another copy of the first edition in commerce; it is virtually unobtainable, with no other substantive copies recorded at auction or in the trade. Institutional holdings are scarce (just 16 recorded, including only one copy in the United States and two in the United Kingdom). By contrast, the 1609 second edition appears occasionally on the market (Sotheby’s, 2009, €4,000–6,000; Madden Books $11,250; James Cummins $7,500).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e-------------------\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSize: 185 x 259 mm (approx., each)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[(5), †–5†⁴, 6†², A–U⁴, X², Y–Z⁴, a–z⁴ (–q1), Aa–Ll⁴, Mm², Nn–Zz⁴, AA–ZZ⁴, aa–ee⁴, ff², (6)]; [(6), gg–yy⁴, zz², AAA–OOO⁴, PPP², A–Z⁴, a–m⁴, (6)]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo volumes, 4to, in near contemporary English calf bindings of Cambridge panelled type, with a repeating floral gilt motif in the spine compartments between five raised bands. Minor rubbing and wear to extremities, but overall bright and remarkably well preserved, entirely unrestored. The lower joint of volume II starting at the front board, though all boards remain securely attached and the bindings sound. All edges gilt; light shelf wear, corners lightly bumped, with a few minor worming marks to the boards, not affecting the text. Attractive hand-painted pastedowns and endpapers preserved in both volumes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eText printed in red and black, in Roman type, predominantly single-column, with double-column setting in the Litany of the Saints. In volume I, the title leaf laid down to a preliminary blank. The text block with intermittent toning, mild sporadic staining, and occasional paper flaws, but generally clean and well preserved throughout, the text entirely legible without loss of sense. Volume I lacking q1, supplied in the form of a discreet typewritten facsimile; otherwise both volumes collate as complete. Volume I with 23 plates, including the engraved title vignette, and 17 engraved tailpieces; volume II with 17 plates and 6 engraved tailpieces, giving a total of 40 plates (plus the title engraving) and 23 engraved tailpieces, with numerous woodcut initials throughout, some historiated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOverall, an attractive and well-preserved copy of this finely produced edition, in remarkably good, notable near-contemporary English panelled bindings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e[USTC 407270; Pettegree 10897].\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBowen, K. L. (2014). Royal books of hours with local and international appeal: An examination of Jan Moretus’ 1600\/1601 and 1609 editions of the Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis. The Library: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, 15(2), 158–184.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDirk Imhof, Jan Moretus and the Continuation of the Plantin Press (1589-1610) Leiden: Brill, 2014, reference O-30.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShepton Mallet Convent. The Downside Review 17, no. 2 (July 1898): 126–133\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoodPaz Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56605383196996,"sku":"5BH","price":3600.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0783\/1725\/7028\/files\/IMG_0380_0961daf9-f5b3-4443-a284-e74331dfa4c5.jpg?v=1776522737","url":"https:\/\/woodpaz.com\/products\/royal-plantin-book-of-hours-1600-first-edition-english-binding-fine-plates-rare","provider":"WoodPaz Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}