Roman Vespers Missal - French-Latin Missal - Desclée De Brouwer & Cie, Bruges 1933

French-Latin Catholic Missel Vespéral Romain from 1933, originating from the liturgical tradition of the Saint-André Abbey near Bruges and printed by Desclée De Brouwer & Cie. The book contains the traditional Roman liturgy for the ecclesiastical year, with Latin texts alongside French translations and explanations.

These missals were intended to make the liturgy more accessible to Catholic laypeople. They could use them to follow the Mass, prayers, and ecclesiastical feast days without being solely dependent on the Latin liturgical text. This edition thus belongs to the liturgical culture of the interwar period, several decades before the major reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The compact yet remarkably thick book is bound in a black flexible cover with a gold-stamped spine title and decorative blind embossing. The golden-brown endpapers feature a richly repeating ornament with religious motifs. The page edges have a gilded finish with red-pink accents, and a remnant of a purple ribbon marker is still present at the bottom.

The copy has clearly been used intensively. The first section, including the title page, is missing, and the endpapers are damaged. Within the text block, several leaves have come loose due to frequent use, and there is scattered edge damage and general signs of wear. However, the binding and the majority of the text block remain intact. These very signs of wear clearly demonstrate that this nearly hundred-year-old missal actually functioned as a liturgical service book.

Details:

• Title: Missel Vespéral Romain
• Period: 1933
• Origin: Belgium
• Location: Bruges / Zevenkerken
• Publisher / printer: Desclée De Brouwer & Cie
• Liturgical tradition: Saint-André Abbey
• Language: French and Latin
• Type: Roman Catholic missal / missel vespéral
• Binding: black flexible cover with gold stamping and blind decoration
• Endpapers: decoratively printed in golden-brown
• Edges: gilded with red-pink accents
• Dimensions: approx. 19.5 × 9.5 cm
• Thickness: approx. 4 cm
• Condition: fair, with clear signs of use and age
• Title page and a portion of the original front matter are missing
• Endpapers damaged
• Several leaves in the text block have come loose
• Edge damage and wear to paper and binding
• Binding of the remaining text block is largely intact