New oldest item

Special Collections & Archives is pleased to announce that we now have a new "oldest" item in our collection. We recently acquired an illuminated vellum manuscript leaf that came from a Book of Hours.[1] This beautiful leaf comes from northern France, most likely Paris, and dates from the 1460s. The leaf is less than six inches by four inches in size! The charming border contains carnations, thistles, roses, daisies, violets, strawberries, grapes, and is even adorned with a beetle. The text is in Latin. Prior to acquiring this illuminated leaf, our oldest item was a leaf from the Nuremberg Chronicle from 1493.[2]