But examples from the North are comparatively rare. The British Library has an outstanding collection of manuscripts made in regional workshops such as Oxford, London and East Anglia. The growing market for books in the 13th century led to professional workshops of scribes and illuminators appearing in cities around the country. The Percy Psalter-Hours is a rare and early example of this class of devotional book from northern England. The Hours of the Virgin, with a historiated initial showing the funeral procession of the Virgin Mary: the Percy Hours, Add MS 89379, f. This resulted in the Psalter-Hours - a deluxe all-in-one collection of texts for personal devotion. As the 13th century progressed, it became common to supplement the Psalter with the Hours of the Virgin, a series of prayers addressed to the Virgin Mary that were recited at set hours of the day and night. Other essential texts were often included, such as a calendar for keeping track of different saints’ feast days, and the Office for the Dead for praying for the souls of departed loved ones. At first these aristocratic patrons adopted the Psalter as their preferred book of personal devotion, inspired by monastic practices. Devotional books were rapidly gaining popularity among wealthy laymen and women. The manuscript was made at a moment of great change in book history. Psalm 1 with a historiated initial showing the Tree of Jesse below, patron portraits and a stag hunt: the Percy Psalter, Add MS 70000, f. Lord and Lady Percy are depicted on the opening page of the Psalter, proudly displaying their coats of arms. They were made in York towards the end of the 13th century as a prayer book for a branch of the aristocratic Percy family. This reunion is all the more satisfying because the Percy Psalter and Hours are historically important and stunningly beautiful. The Hours of the Virgin, with a historiated initial showing the Annunciation: the Percy Hours, Add MS 89379, f. We are delighted to announce that we have now purchased the Percy Hours from the estate of the London collector Stephen Keynes, bringing the two manuscript halves together for the first time in around 200 years. The British Library acquired the Percy Psalter from the New York collector Clark Stillman in 1990. They formed one manuscript for around 500 years, until a 19th-century book dealer split them in two and sold the halves into separate private collections. The Percy Psalter ( Add MS 70000) and the Percy Hours ( Add MS 89379) were created as a single-volume Psalter-Hours in the late 13th century. But to acquire a new manuscript and reunite it with its long-separated other half is no less than thrilling. It is always exciting to acquire a new manuscript for the collection.
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