
The cover reproduced here is taken from L’office de la Semaine Sainte, a French liturgy which contained the intricate rules that governed life during Holy Week, determined by the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
The original cover was decorated à la fanfare, an intricate handtooled pattern edged in gilt which was popular from the late 1500s until the early 1700s. The technique required such high levels of skill from the bookbinder that is was reserved for books of great importance. This particular cover reproduces a 1688 binding from the Düsseldorf Museum Kunstpalast.