Creator
Jean-Joseph Rive
Title
Essai sur l'art de vérifier l'âge des miniatures peintes dans des manuscrits depuis le XIVe jusqu'au XVIIe siècle inclusivement, de comparer leurs différents styles et degrés de beauté et de déterminer une partie de la valeur des manuscrits qu'elles enrichissent.
Coverage
[Paris]
Date
[1782]
Description
This book of 26 engraved, hand-colored plates is the first to contain colored reproductions of illuminated manuscripts. It was part of an elaborate prospectus for a work conceived, but never published, by l'abbé Rive, the knowledgeable (if cantankerous) librarian of the duc de La Vallière. Rive selected some of the finest medieval manuscripts from La Vallière’s spectacular library to demonstrate how painted miniatures could be dated, compared, and valued on the market. Although eighty subscription copies were planned, only 24 copies of the prospectus were produced.
Source
Purchased in 2015 with Grolier Club Library Harper Funds.