Livre d'Heures Maria Stuart

Livre d'Heures Maria Stuart; facsimilé edition of the manuscript - Tours: 1510/1515 - owned by the Dukes of Würtemberg. 48x32 mm., 308 p.; 14 miniature illuminations, gold initials, border decorations.

Limited edition of 980 copies. Darmstadt: Facsimilia Art & Edition Ebert KG, 1988. Bound in richly decorated full leather by Atelier Stemmle AG, Zürich; housed in a blue linen box with a magnifying glass and a commentary by Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Decker-Hauff, Prof. Dr. Eberhard König, Myra D. Orth Ph. D. and Prof. Dr. Johannes Rathofer.



One of my finest aquisitions of the past year is this beautiful facsimilé of the Book of Hours of Maria Stuart. This is the smallest book of hours known and because of its history, the quality of the script and the fine illuminations regarded as the most precious manuscript in private ownership. The book is written in 21 lines per page by an unnamed scriptor, sometimes connected to Geofroy Tory. The miniatures point to an illuminator of the "School of Rouen" at that time situated near the Royal Court in Tours.


Maria Stuart (1542-1587), daughter of the Scottish King Jacob V, as a six year old girl engaged with the French Dauphine, came back to Scotland in 1560 as an eighteen years old queen widow. She was beheaded in 1587 being a roman catholic heir of the throne of England, after a show trial initiated by her protestant sister Elisabeth. Maria Stuart brought the Book of Hours from France to Scotland and via James VI/I and Charles I it came in possesion of the Dukes of Orléans. Mary of France, married to Alexander Duke of Würtemberg, brought the book to Würtemberg,

Exhibition

V majhnem plašču besed; Miniaturne knjižice od sumerske glinene ploščice do biblije na čipu / by Martin Žnideršič. - Ljubljana: Mestni Muzej, 2010.


"In a Small Coat of Words; Miniature Books from Sumerian Clay tablets to the Bible on a Chip".
This time not a miniature book but the catalogue of an exhibition of miniature books held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ljubljana has been appointed World Capital City of Books by UNESCO from April 2010 to April 2011, and as part of the celebrations the city presented this exhibition of miniature books from the private collection of Dr. Martin Žnideršič. There were almost 1300 miniature books displayed at the City Museum (Mestni Musej), about half of the collection of mr Žnideršič. The books originate from 55 countries and were arranged by country, publisher and year of publication. From a Sumerian clay tablet (28x26 mm.) from 2040 BC to a Bible on a chip (Tokyo, 1979, 2x2 mm.)



Martin Žnideršič, PhD, published many works on books and publishing.
In 40 years he build a collection of over 3000 miniature books, one of the largest in Europe. After the exhibition his whole collection will be donated to the City Library of Ljubljana.