The Évreux Missal of 1527: The only copy printed on vellum with 152 illuminations by the Master of Anne de Graville – his magnum opus
Unique illuminated Copy on Vellum
Only two copies of this missal for the Diocese of Évreux in Normandy are known. The other – held at the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève in Paris – is incomplete and printed on paper. Our copy is the only complete one and the only one printed on vellum. Moreover, all 152 woodcuts have been illuminated in gold and colours by one of the most significant Parisian painters of the early 16th century: the Master of Anne de Graville.
Missale ad consuetudinem insignis ecclesie Ebroicensis…
Paris: Jean Kaerbriant & Didier Maheu for Jean Petit, 1527
Folio (approx. 330 × 220 mm).
264 leaves – complete (see our cat. 90 for exact collation).
Printing
Two-column print with narrow marginal column in black and red; pale red ruling. Printed on vellum.
Illustrations (all illuminated in gold and colours by the Master of Anne de Graville, unless stated otherwise)
Half-page publisher’s device on the title page, within a painted full-page border
2 full-page woodcuts
1 half-page woodcut (Mass of St Gregory) within a painted full-page border
21 quarter-page woodcuts
128 smaller woodcuts
2 small uncoloured woodcuts
Numerous five‑ and two‑line initials in gold or blue on mauve or blue grounds with ornamentation in gold or white, occasionally figural and in colour
Capital letters heightened in yellow
Binding
Contemporary half-pigskin over oak boards on six wide and two narrow bands; spine with filets; covers decorated with two roller stamps. Original vellum endpapers, full gilt edges. (Covers with some wormholes, lower corners with small chips.) Black half‑morocco box.
The Master of Anne de Graville: his magnum opus
The Master of Anne de Graville, recently identified by Myra Orth ranks among the foremost book illuminators in Paris after 1500 – on a par with Jean Pichore and Étienne Colaud, though he often surpasses the latter in elegance and brilliance of colour. With more than 150 hand‑illuminated woodcuts, this unique vellum copy can rightly be described as his magnum opus.
Outstanding are the two facing full‑page miniatures: the Crucifixion of Christ and God the Father Enthroned. While iconographically related to those in the Missal of Langres (also printed on vellum, see our cat. 90 Wunderkammer, lot 19), they differ markedly in detail, framing and colour scheme.
Historical significance
Adolphe André Porée, in his bibliography of liturgical books of the diocese of Évreux, noted that “ce missel fut publié par ordre de l’évêque Ambroise Le Veneur”. However, the original endpaper preserved at the back bears a contemporary entry: “Raynaldus‑vicomte cantor eccl[es]ie ebr[oicensis] iussit hunc imprimi libru[m] et ornari insignis figuris”
(Raynald Vicomte, cantor of the church of Évreux, commissioned this book to be printed and adorned with very special illuminations).
Raynald Vicomte – a member of the Norman noble family Le Vicomte de Blangy – was the most influential and wealthy dignitary of Évreux Cathedral after the bishop. His inscription on the first page confirms: “Ce present livre est a mons. R. le chantre V(icomte)”.
Provenance
First owner’s inscription: Raynald Vicomte, cantor of Évreux
19th century: Jean‑Paul‑Gaston de Pins (1766–1850), Vicar General of Bourges, Bishop of Béziers, Apostolic Administrator of Lyon – acquired in Narbonne in 1824
Arthur Brölemann (signatures ‘B 164’ and ‘A 19’) – his catalogue Lyon 1897, no. 146
Sotheby’s London (Mme Mallet / Brölemann sale), 4–5 May 1926, no. 165: £820, by far the highest price for a printed book in that legendary auction.
Quaritch, Cat. 386, no. 849: £1,500
J. G. Barber, Esq. – Sotheby’s London, 22 June 1953: £880 (to Thorp)
Lionel Robinson – sale 1986, lot 75: £57,200 (= CHF 150,000) – second‑highest price of the auction – to ‘Suter’
H. P. Kraus, Catalogue 188, New York 1991, no. 74: $325,000 (= CHF 502,000)
A sumptuous copy in near-mint condition
When King Francis I established an inquisition tribunal in Évreux in 1540, the inhabitants resisted so resolutely that he dissolved it. From 1559, a Reformed church existed in Évreux until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Our unique, lavishly decorated copy shows no sign of having been affected in any way by such upheavals. If it originally came from the cathedral, it was likely lost during the French Revolution – only to re‑emerge shortly afterwards in the possession of a high‑ranking clergyman. With its sale in 1824, the missal began its second life as a bibliophile treasure, the full (art‑)historical significance of which has yet to be widely recognised (but see our cat. 90 Wunderkammer, lot 24).
Bibliography (selected)
Catalogue […] Brölemann, Lyon 1897, no. 146. – Moreau 1527, no. 1278 . – Porée, Les anciens livres liturgiques du diocèse d’Évreux, pp. 26 ff. (does not mention our copy). – Weale/Bohatta no. 367, pp. 65 & 327. – Not in Adams; not in Van Praet
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