Late eighteenth-century illustrated manuscript containing the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dutch. Each prayer is accompanied by an engraved plate illustrating the corresponding invocation. These beautiful engravings were made by Joseph Sebastian Klauber (ca. 1700-1768) and his brother Johann Baptist Klauber (1712-1787), who both worked in Augsburg. They specialised in Catholic devotional prints and are considered among the finest Augsburg artists in this genre. The highly detailed engravings are rich in allegorical and symbolic elements, which would have inspired hours of contemplation alongside the prayers.
The present manuscript was probably produced in Flanders and bears the date 1792 on the first free flyleaf. The text was copied from Stigtelyke uytbreiding der Litanie van O.L. Vrouwe van Loretten, published in Brussels around 1760. The engravings were first published in Francisco Javier Dornn's Litaniae Lauretanae ad Beatae Virginis (1750) and later reused in the Brussels edition, from which the present impressions were probably taken. With the exception of the engraved frontispiece, the complete series of 56 plates has been included.
The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Litany of Loreto, was approved in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590) and takes its name from the shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, where it was first recorded. The text opens with the Kyrie and invocations to the Holy Trinity, followed by a series of invocations to the Virgin Mary under her various titles, including: "Mother of Christ", "Virgin most powerful", and "Mystical rose". The litany remains in use and continues to be revised; three new invocations were added in 2020. The present manuscript does not include the invocation "Queen conceived without original sin", added in 1843, confirming that it predates that year.
With a small annotation in ink ("1792") on the recto of the first free end leaf, the pages are numbered in roman numerals, which are written in pencil and ink in the head margin of the pages. The edges and corners of the boards are scuffed, the joints are somewhat weakened, but the boards are still attached, some loss of material at the head and foot of the spine. The leaves are somewhat browned around the edges, with a wormhole on the last 5 leaves and the back pastedown, the engraved plates are slightly smaller than the other leaves. Otherwise in good condition. Cf. Thieme/Becker 20, p. 411 (Klauber brothers); STCV 12918811 (printed work).