Books of Hours (Miniature Editions) Paperback – 13 Jun. 1996

Ok, the pros:+ It fits easily in your pocket. In fact, if you are an average sized adult, it almost fits within your closed palm - see pic. So you can carry it with you anytime anywhere.+I bought it as I wanted something to accompany my meditations whilst saying the rosary, and Books of Hours were developed out of the fuller Divine Office, and mainly centered around veneration of the Virgin Mary. So in a sense, it's fairly good for that, a devotional aid. You'll find nice colour plates of The Annunciation, Visitation, Assumption etc., though not all the Mysteries are present, so you'll still come up short.+ there is some interesting info on Books of Hours that will inform and entertain, though in a very general way. You do get a vague sense of the overall layout of these devotional books and can visualize (because this product doesn't quite live up to actual promise) how they might have looked to a medieval user / devotee.+ the plates are good quality, for the type of book it is, though the 'gold' is replaced with a kind of orange / yellow ink. There are a good selection of plates. I recognized many of them from manuscripts like the Hastings Hours and the Flemish 1515 'Hours of the Virgin', though the originals are larger.+ you get a sense of the layout of a Book of Hours and some good explanation of what each section was about.Cons :- it's tiny. Really. And very thin. The publishers say they are trying to reproduce the small size of these devotional books. That's true, but they have focused on the smallest of the small. I've seen larger examples, about the size of a child's school copybook, that would have done better to imitate.- As a result, the plates are tiny too. Eg I recognize some of the plates from 'The Hastings Hours' of which I own a facsimile copy. The plates in my Hastings Hours are over twice the size of the plates in this booklet, maybe triple if we take the generous margins into account.- And the text. Font size - is there a font size smaller than 8? I think they've found it. Anyone with vision problems may as well forget this book. That's doubly frustrating as I bought this book as an Xmas gift for someone who does have some vision problems, now I'm not even sure I can give it to them.- It's paperback - it has a flimsy feel to it. For something so small that the main advantage is that you can take it anywhere, it's not likely to last long in your pocket, next to keys, coins and whatever other odds and end you keep in there.- Many plates have no accompanying explanation, other than obligatory provenance info (i.e what manuscript collection they were taken from). Surely it would not have been beyond the reach of Phaidon (the publishers) to include some extra info, like details on the scene depicted, the particular saint or devotion etc? There's certainly plenty of margin space for it. This information is provided in a series of footnotes at the end of the book, but then you have to keep flipping between the plates and the back of the book to read about them. Since there are many blank pages in the book (i.e the pages only have the time of day of the prayers eg 'none' or 'matins' and no other text), the plate info could and should have been included on the page opposite the plate itself.Catholics will already be familiar with some of the scenes, but even we would have liked a bit more detail! Any info on the plates is usually limited to a very generalized introductory page for each section. To be fair, there is some good info given there, though often very general. You will learn something about Books of Hours if you didn't know already.- it currently comes with a hefty price tag from sellers. At £42 (sterling, not even euro) I have been 'robbed'. When the book arrived from the seller I saw the RRP on the back was £5.95!! At that price, it would have been well worth the money! This is not Phaidon's fault of course, but be aware sellers are charging many multiples of the RRP of this book. Maybe it has become collector's item and I didn't know? For £42 I would have expected something at least twice the size, in hardback, and with the points I mentioned above about the font size, plates with accompanying explanations etc addressed. If you can get it for around £5.95 it's worth it, otherwise hold off and you can do better for the money. That's my advice anyway.

I lost my copy of LEs Tres Riches Heures du Duc Du Berry and this Book of Hours did not quite measure up to that. However, it is a pleasure to own, and I like the layout. I should have preferred a slightly glossier paper.It would be a good introduction to this subject but I shall continue to look for an affordable copy of Les Tres Riches Heures, whilst still enjoying coming across this pocket sized book in my bag.

I read the many reviews of this book before buying, and I'm glad I ignored the bad ones. The reproductions are at or near the original size, and are absolutely beautiful (and I'm a professional print buyer, having worked in the world of fine art). They are not (at least in my copy) "fuzzy" at all. I should point out that they are not meant to be viewed through a magnifying glass, as the printing screen pattern (the coloured dots) is necessarily relatively large compared to the overall size of the images.As a small selection of some of the most beautiful manuscripts from the middle ages, or as a devotional object, I cannot recommend this tiny book too highly.

It's obviously very small, but at such a low price it's the bargain of the century. The detail revealed in each of the pages is breath taking and beautiful, even without using a magnifier, which is of benefit. There are things in it which lift the heart.

this was what I was looking for and am pleased with the little book. The format is a little difficult to follow but once I started using it, my understanding of it was fine.

This book is a small treasure. Beautifully illustrated and yes the pictures are small and yes you do need a magnifying glass but I think that adds to the beauty of it. These books in their original form were very small. It is well produced and the illustrations are indexed at the back. It would be nice if the publishers had produced a hard back version as it would make a lovely gift.

What a truly wonderful little book. I simply love it. Writing could be a little larger where there's room but that's only because of my eyes nowadays...... Arrived within a day, and pleases me every time I pick it up.

Wonderful illustrations. A view on the world at the time. Good value for money. A good link for other books.