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ALDE

208 - WOVEN PRAYER BOOK based on manuscript illuminations from the…
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Estimate €4,000 - €5,000
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Description
WOVEN PRAYER BOOK based on manuscript illuminations from the 14th to 16th centuries. Lyon, J.-A. Henry for A. Roux, 1886-1887. In-8 square, leaves, navy blue folder with raspberry silk flap (Roux). A very rare and curious specimen of a book woven entirely on silk on the Jacquard loom. The book consists of 50 pages of text decorated with different floral borders, numerous ornate letters and the reproduction of four miniatures, all based on drawings by R.P. J. Hervier. This edition was produced in very small numbers, only fifty or sixty copies, by the manufacturer J.-A. Henry, owner of a licence for woven type, who took more than two years to produce this prayer book. "The book is woven on silk on a Jacquard loom. The fabric is made of very fine silk, remarkably tight, with 400 wefts per inch," wrote Paul Marais in a review of the time. "The number of cartons [i.e. perforated cards] required for a work of this kind is enormous, amounting to no less than several hundred thousand, and the surface area of all these cards is estimated at 70 m2". "An extremely early book production involving automation and programming" (Michael Laird). When it was created in 1801, the Jacquard loom was the first programmable mechanical system with punched cards, heralding the rise of computer technology. Vicaire, V, 342 - Paul Marais, "Note sur un livre de prières en tissu de soie", Bulletin du bibliophile, 1889, pp. 163-166 - Michael Laird, The World from Here, Los Angeles, 2001, p. 63.
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About the sale Antiquarian books from the 15th to the 19th century - Astronomy
Auction location
Auction time 06/24/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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