Castle Priory is a crumbling Oxfordshire mansion, one Brian Blackstone's wife considered a place of extraordinary enchantment. But for Brian there is no enchantment, only the burden of trying to honor Sarah's dying wish that he hold onto the property. With the local doctor, Cecilia Keeble, Brian begins to explore the mysteries of the old estate. In the process he discovers a medieval secret which offers a key to renew his spirit and heal his broken heart. The power of prayer reaches through the centuries in a surprising and mysterious way…

"The Book of hours, written in three bursts between 1899-1903, is Rilke's most formative work, covering a crucial period in his rapid ascent from fin-de-siecle epigone to distinctive modern voice. The poems are crucial documents of Rilke's development, from his tour around Russia with Lou Andreas-Salome, through his hasty marriage to Clara Westhoff in the artists' community of Worpswede, to his turn toward the urban modernity of Paris. Rilke assumes the persona of an artist-monk undertaking the Romantics' journey into the self, speaking to God as part transcendent deity, part needy neighbor. Echoes of his juvenile style persist, yet by the end of the book the influence of the sculptor Rodin is discernible in the distinctive idiom of urbanity, in the terminology of "things," and in Rilke's turn to the everyday world around him."--Jacket flap.

This book explores our corporeal connections to the past by considering what three theoretical approaches - somaesthetics, posthumanism, and the uncanny - may reveal about both premodern and postmodern terms of embodiment. It takes as its point of departure a selection of fifteenth-century northern European Books of Hours - evocative objects designed at once to inscribe social status, to strengthen religious commitment, to entertain, to stimulate emotions, and to encourage discomfiting self-scrutiny. Studying their kaleidoscopically strange, moving, humorous, disturbing, and imaginative pages not only enables a window into relationships among bodies, images, and things in the past but also in our own internet era, where surprisingly popular memes drawn from such manuscripts constitute a part of our own visual culture. In negotiating theoretical, post-theoretical, and historical concerns, this book aims to contribute to an emerging and much-needed intersectional social history of art. It will be of interest to scholars working in art history, medieval studies, Renaissance/early modern studies, gender studies, the history of the book, posthumanism, aesthetics, and the body.

This study uncovers the musical foundations and performance suggestions of books of hours, guides to prayer that were the most popular and widespread books of the late Middle Ages. Exploring a variety of musical genres and sections of books of hours with musical implications, this book presents a richly textured sound world gleaned from dozens of extant manuscript sources from fifteenth-century France. It offers the first overview of the musical content of these handbooks to liturgy and devotional prayer, together with cues that show scribal awareness for the articulation of sacred plainchants. Although books of hours lack musical notation, this survey elucidates the full range of musical genres and styles suggested both within and beyond the liturgical offices prescribed in books of hours. Privileging sound and ritual enactment in the experience of the hours, the survey complements studies of visual imagery that have dominated the category. The book’s interdisciplinary approach within a musical context, and beautiful full-color illustrations, will attract not only specialists in musicology, liturgy, and late medieval studies, but also those more broadly interested in the history of the book, memory, performance studies, and art history.

This a complete translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's The Book of Hours that restores to the English-speaking reader a critical work in the development of a significant figure in 20th-century German poetry. Conveying an almost mystical conception of the relationship between God, the human being and nature, The Book of Hours (Das Stundenbuch, first published in 1905) is a series of intimate prayers written as if by a Russian monk turned painter - writings that bring to bear the profound influence of Rilke's journeys to Russia and Italy at the turn of the century.

Storey's new compilation of "The Liturgy of the Hours" is presented in language that is both dignified and contemporary, crafted in accordance with Vatican II's liturgical emphasis and promotion of scriptural prayer.

An in-depth examination of Plantin's large-scale production of books of hours, comprising a survey of their illustration as well as accounts of the general process by which they were printed. A pioneer study of great interest both from the art-historical and from the bibliographical point of view. Contains inter alia many additions and corrections's to Voet's The Plantin Press.

This volume digitally reconstructs a 15th-century Book of Hours illuminated by Robert Boyvin, which was dismembered by a notorious American dealer. Utilising the WBRM methodology, it integrates digital humanities and philological research to restore the manuscript, addressing the ethical challenges associated with manuscript dismemberment. The study examines the manuscript’s historical context, its connection to Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, and Louis de La Londe. Through provenance and dating analysis, it provides a comprehensive understanding of this cultural treasure and advocates against biblioclasm. It underscores the ethical responsibility of preserving our heritage, critiques the complicity of some scholars in manuscript dismemberment, and highlights the omission of critical information in cataloguing platforms. Aimed at scholars, preservationists, and enthusiasts, this book revitalises a dismembered masterpiece and enriches the discourse on the ethical handling of historical artefacts.

This book provides a detailed exploration of profit-driven biblioclasm, centring on the case of a Book of Hours, part of the Brooklyn Museum’s holdings until 2021. Facing financial difficulties exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum chose to deaccession and sell various pieces, among which was a manuscript from the Mary Benson bequest of 1919, later dismembered by an American dealer who had purchased it at auction. Whilst examining the moral complexities surrounding these sales and the destruction of irreplaceable European cultural artifacts, the book uncovers the identity of the original owner of the manuscript, and provides a digital reconstruction of the original text. This book not only brings to light a critical occurrence but also discusses wider issues of cultural conservation and ethical responsibility in the art world. Its global significance and focus on a notable event in art history render it an indispensable read for those dedicated to safeguarding our collective cultural heritage.