Book of Hours (Rome), Paris: Pierre Le Rouge, for Vincent Commin, 1491, fol. 4 recto, coloured, vellum, leaf height 16.2 cm, Inc.5.D.1.19[2530].

The advent of the printing press with movable type (c. 1450) in Europe did not immediately supersede manuscript books. In the incunable period there were many ‘hybrid’ books with the text printed on vellum and richly decorated by hand, thus preserving the texture and visual appeal of an illuminated manuscript book. This format was popular for books that were expected to be durable, such as Books of Hours (devotional manuals). This copy was printed in 1491 and became a family heirloom. It was once owned by a Jeanne Pettre, who was given it on 7 July 1565 by her aunt, Damoiselle Hilleiry de Vaulx, the widow of Hugues des Moynes (who built the Hôtel de Rogéville in Nancy).

The skull is flanked by a Latin text, ‘memorare novissima tua et in aeternum non peccabis’ part of the well-known instruction in Ecclesiasticus 7:40: ‘In all thy works, remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin’ (trans. Douay-Rheims).