Iolande Bonhomme
French, active 1497-1556
After Thielman Kerver's death in 1522, his widow Iolande Bonhomme,
daughter of the great printer Pasquier Bonhomme, took over the
firm and continued to print primarily liturgical books until 1556.
Bonhomme
and Charlotte Guillard were the foremost women printers of the
French Renaissance.
On view is a Book of Hours, so called because it contains the Psalms
and other devotions (particularly to the Virgin Mary) for each
of the canonical hours of the day. Such books were intended for private
meditation
by the laity, and splendid illuminated examples, such as the justly
famous Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duc de Berry (ca. 1415)
were often commissioned by wealthy and noble patrons.
Although not illuminated, the Book of Hours is nevertheless
a printing tour de force in red and black, using several different
sizes and styles of type. Forty-seven full-page woodcuts illustrate
pious subjects, including a Dance of Death sequence, with devils
and angels fighting for the souls of the living and the dead, and
scenes
from the tribulations of Job. Decorated borders made up of many small
wood or metal cuts appear on every page.
Hore Deipare Virginis Marie Secundum usum Romanum . . .
Paris : [Widow of] Thielman Kerver, 1523
Rare Books Division. Presented by the Estate of Katharine J. P. Sutton
