The Tres Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry: Musee Conde, Chantilly

One of the most successful art books of all time is now available in paperback for the first time. In their now-classic texts, Longnon and Cazelles recount the history of this work from its inception up until modern times. 139 color plates.

Widely praised for providing unprecedented access to perhaps the most closely guarded and celebrated of medieval illuminated manuscripts, Braziller's sublime 1969 facsimile is denatured in this first paperback version. Only the jacket has retained the metallic gold that supplements the four-color art of the cloth edition; within, the plates are flat and often indistinct. The preface, for example, cites the "sparkling diapered background" of a particular night scene, but here the stars not only do not sparkle but are barely perceptible. The absence of the gold has a disastrous effect on the manuscript's famous architectural renderings, robbing them of their depth of field and subtlety of color. The text, written by three unimpeachable art historians, is unchanged, although the legends (previously facing illustrations) are now inconveniently segregated in a section following the plates; one also wishes that the bibliography had been updated. Surely this relatively inexpensive paperback has been designed with the goal of making the Tres Riches Heures even more accessible; ironically, the reproductions are so dramatically inferior that the purchase of the volume is a false economy. $30,000 ad/promo; BOMC and QPBC selections.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Braziller first published the hardcover edition of this now-classic work 20 years ago, and many libraries already own it. This paperback edition may provide a more affordable alternative for smaller collections. The bulk of the volume consists of good reproductions of all the miniatures and many of the decorated text pages in the same size as the original medieval manuscript. No enlarged details are provided. In contrast, the recent volume from Abrams on the Tres Riches Heures, Cazelles's & Rathofer's Illuminations of Heaven and Earth ( LJ 12/88), does provide detail views. Its text, however, draws heavily on the scholarship of the Braziller volume, which is also more accessible to lay readers and students. The effect of looking through a copy of this famous manuscript will be satisfying to a wide audience.
- Kathryn Finkelstein, M.Ln., Cincinnati
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.