[BOOK OF HOURS]. Book of Hours or Church Offices illustrated - Lot 39

[BOOK OF HOURS]. Book of Hours or Church Offices illustrated by Marie Godefrin. Beautifully illuminated work by a young woman from Lille, preserved in a fine binding with clasps. Lille, 1871. In octavo (210 x140 mm). Luxury binding in full red morocco, brass clasps underlined by cold filets, smooth spine decorated with cold title, gilt edges, double fillet on the edges, inner lace, red moiré satin linings with the initials M.G. at the beginning. Binding signed Auguste-Petit. 92 pp. Some dark spots on leather, otherwise very good condition. Superb late 19th-century illuminated manuscript in printed Gothic script, with some characters enhanced. The endpapers are decorated with color and gold, while the rest of the ornamentation is illuminated by hand, with rich gold highlights. There are numerous historiated initials, six finely executed miniatures, three of them hors texte, and large frames running across the pages, populated with flowers, fruit, animals, mythological creatures, figures and coats of arms. The twelve months of the year appear at the beginning, each accompanied by a small miniature at the bottom of the page. Beautifully preserved in an elegant signed binding.