Officium Beatæ Mariæ Virginis

S. Pii V Pontificis Maximi jussu editum, et Urbani VIII. Auctoritate recognitum. Con l'Uffizio de'Morti, Sette Salmi ed altre diverse Orazioni.

Venetiis: Apud Nicolaum Pezzana. 1758.

8vo. (180x106mm) pp. [8], 405, [3]. Six engraved plates, one signed M. Heylbrouck and an engraved vignette to title page. Text in Latin and Italian. Contemporary Italian sheep, covers with elaborately tooled gilt borders, fan sprays at the inner corners. Centre of the boards have leaf motifs and two gilt oval frames with green morocco onlays bearing initials "G.P" (upper cover) and "A.P" (lower cover). Flat spine decorated in gilt with leaf motifs, with three green morocco onlays lettered and decorated in gilt. Edges to boards tooled in gilt. All edges gilt and gauffered with a delicate leaf pattern. Attractive green endpapers. In very good condition with one or two small worn spots. Internally excellent with a little foxing in places. Book label of John Saks loosely inserted along with a slip of paper from Christie's reading "Lot No. 191/1 10 Jun 1981" when a number of Saks's books were sold.
Saks (the grandson of the founder of the eponymous shop and a vice president of the family firm) was a Fellow of the Morgan Library and a member of the Grolier Club. His celebrated library was particularly strong in the private presses of Ashendene, Kelmscott and Doves but he also built up a fine collection of eighteenth century Venetian books of which this beautifully bound Book of Hours is a lovely example.