The Book of Hours of Louis, bâtard de Roucy, seigneur de Sissonne (1465–1536)

Theory and Criticism of Literature and ArtsVolume 6, No. 1 – August 2022 – Special IssueBiblioclasm & Digital ReconstructionELEVEN SCATTERED MANUSCRIPTS DIGITALLY REASSEMBLED THROUGH THE WAYBACK RECOVERY METHOD©Copyright © 2022 RECEPTIO Academic Press LtdDigital Version – ISSN: 2297-1874Print Version – ISSN: 2504-2238RECEPTIO Academic Press Ltd20-22, Wenlock Road, Islington, London, N1 7GU, United Kingdom This study presents the first historically documented attribution of the Book of Hours to Louis de Roucy, establishing him as its original owner based on archival research and codicological evidence. Through the digital reconstruction (approximately 200 extant folios), primarily textual leaves, the manuscript is identified as being of liturgical use for Chalon-sur-Marne. This crucial discovery allows for the localisation of its production to a specific atelier active in Troyes—a cultural centre that, three centuries after the time of Chrétien de Troyes, remained vibrant and influential. Furthermore, by tracing auction records and sales of single leaves, the author has identified both the individual responsible for physically dismantling the manuscript and the compromised Sotheby’s consultant who facilitated the sale of its leaves in the UK market. This case has been formally reported to the Carabinieri TPC (Foreign Section), as the parties involved are also implicated in the illicit dismemberment and trafficking of Italian manuscripts abroad. The work thus sheds new light on the manuscript’s provenance, its artistic context, the dynamics of the art market, and the significance of its fragmentation and subsequent digital recovery.