French Books of Hours: Making an Archive of Prayer, C.1400-1600 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781107007215)

The book of hours was a 'best-seller' in medieval and early modern Europe, the era's most commonly produced and owned book. This interdisciplinary study explores its increasing popularity and prestige, offering a full account of the book of hours as a book - how it was acquired, how it was read to guide prayer and teach literacy and what it meant to its owners as a personal possession. Based on the study of over 500 manuscripts and printed books from France, Virginia Reinburg combines a social history of the book of hours with an ethnography of prayer. Approaching the practice of prayer as both speech and ritual, she argues that a central part of the book of hours' appeal for lay people was its role as a bridge between the liturgy and the home. Reinburg describes how the book of hours shaped religious practice through the ways in which it was used.

Author: Virginia Reinburg
ISBN-10: 1107007216
ISBN-13: 9781107007215
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 02/02/2012
Pages: 312
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2012