Radnor hours, use of Rome, 1425 - 1475

Suffrage to Saint Sebastian, added in later hand, fol. 75r

Parchment support.

Fifteenth-century original binding, leather over oak boards with remnants of clasps on upper board.

76; 150 x 108 mm bound to 155 x 110 mm

Gothic--textualis script

Full foliage borders bounded with red ink surround the text on ff. 7r, 10r, 24r, 54r, 65r with penwork vine-stems, fruit, and flowers embellished with gold leaves and red, blue, pink, and green fruit and flowers. A double frame, the outer frame gold, the inner red with a thin white line, both outlined in black, separates the text from the border on the bottom and both sides. Red and blue acanthus leaves extend from the top and bottom outside corners of the frame into the border. The top inside corner of the frame meets in either a magenta or blue initial embellished with white penwork; initial is outlined in black on a gold ground also framed in black. Inside the initial are red, black, and white intertwined vines terminating in red or blue foliage.

There are seven 5-line gold initials, each on a black-framed, shaped ground. The ground is half-magenta, half-blue with white accents. In the interior of each letter is the opposite ground on which white pen flourishes intertwine. Extending from these initials are sparse penwork vines with magenta and blue flowers and gold leaves. Additionally, the text is decorated by numerous 3- and 2-line initials, including KL monograms in the calendar, in the same style with small penwork flourishes extending from the outer corners. There are many 1-line initials on each page, gold or blue in a red or black embellished penwork frame, often with small penwork extenders. Rubrics in red throughout. The presence of stubs before the major text sections suggest that illustrations once accompanied this text.

Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.