Rare Catholic prayer book printed in 1596 uncovered at McMaster University had librarian 'freaking out'

Ruth-Ellen St. Onge was busy preparing for an upcoming exhibition that will showcase a variety of texts published by the renowned Plantin Press when she saw something in the McMaster University Libraries catalog records that had her "freaking out."

"I saw this note on something called the universal short title catalog that said 'lost book,' and my heart started beating really fast," St. Onge told CBC Hamilton. 

"I was like, oh, what's going on here?" 

St. Onge — McMaster University Libraries' distinctive collections cataloguing librarian — uncovered a rare book titled Officium beatae Mariae virginis, which translates to The Book of Hours of the Virgin Mary, published by Plantin Press in 1596.

The tiny prayer book, which the public can view in early May, was written in Latin and sold across Europe, typically purchased by devout Catholics or members of religious orders. Known as a 'book of hours' for its structured prayers designated for specific times of day, these volumes were often used daily, making their survival over centuries quite rare, according to the university.

St. Onge said the term 'lost book' indicates that scholars knew from financial records that these books were printed, but no copies were known to exist.

After double checking her work, St. Onge said she shared the news with her boss and with colleague Myron Groover, archives and rare books librarian, with whom she's co-curating the Plantin Press exhibit.

"It's very exciting for McMaster and I think for scholars in general, because not only are there no surviving copies of this specific edition of The Book of Hours, most of the small format books of hours produced by the Plantin Press do not survive, so there's only a handful," St. Onge said.

"So, it's really significant that we have this book at McMaster."

St. Onge said she's also sent an e-mail, which included some photos of the book, to the Plantin Press Museum in Belgium. 

"The curator there, whose name is Zanna van Loon, she wrote back and she said they were very excited to hear this news." 

"Actually, I had already planned to go there this summer to do some research on another book, so now I'll be researching both of these books and meeting with the curator there to speak in person. So, that's very exciting as well." 

St. Onge said the book had been at McMaster University since 1965.

Its previous owner was Aldo Caselli, an Italian professor who moved to the United States during World War II.