Leaf on vellum from a printed Book of Hours.

Book of Hours leaf, printed by Thielman Kerver* in 1507. It is printed on vellum in black and red with many initials hand painted in red, blue and gold.
Around the text are many metal cuts depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament with the captions in red [ these pictures explained the relation between the Old Testament and the Life of Christ ], the rest of the borders is ornamental. On the verso is full page picture of Jesus who is brought in the Temple by his parents : the old Simeon has the Baby in his arms and Mary and Josef are in front of the table [ Josef with a small basket with three doves !]
*The firm of Thielman Kerver is best known for its lovely printed Books of Hours, many of which include hand-painted miniatures and initial letters. Thielman Kerver, who was one of France's most prolific printers of such books, began printing Books of Hours in 1497, and continued until his death in 1522. At this time, his widow, Iolande Bonhomme, took over the firm, and continued to produce liturgical books of different types until 1556. Brunet notes that even though Kerver printed many different Books of Hours, his work is less common than that of his colleagues, Simon Vostre and the Hardouins.
Brunet suspects that is because fewer copies on vellum were printed, and paper copies were destroyed. This may also account for the rarity of the present leaf.