This beautiful New Zealand Book of Hours is held at the Kinder Library
The John Kinder Theological Library rare books collection holds a New Zealand Book of Hours, on behalf of the Methodist Trinity College. This was originally donated to the college by the New Zealand publisher, A. H. Reed.
This beautiful item was exhibited at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne in 2008 for an exhibition on illuminated manuscripts titled ‘The Medieval Imagination: Illuminated Manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia, and New Zealand’. It is believed to have been created for a member of a monastery in Cologne where it originates and is dated from between 1485 to 1490.
What is a Book of Hours?
A Book of Hours is a devotional Christian book, which was popular in Medieval Times. Each Book of Hours is unique, but most contain very similar texts and prayers. The decorations, or illuminations, are elaborate as you can see above, and often have delicately painted large capital letters at the start of Pslams or prayers.
The Book of Hours’ origin is in the Psalter, which is a book containing just the Pslams from the Bible. Eventually, the Book of Hours was created and contained more than just the Pslams but included a selection of other texts, prayers, hymns, and liturgical lessons.
A popular Book of Hours is the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, which dates back to the 15th century, and while ours here isn’t quite as elaborate, it’s still a beautiful piece of history, culture, literature, and art.