Collections of scripted prayers and utterances to the divine are not unique to medieval Christianity, but can be found in many faith traditions. Here we have collected three volumes from different faith traditions that are varyingly analogous to the medieval Book of Hours. The early printed book is a prayerbook originating from within the middle of the English Reformation. It was printed in 1539, at a moment when official English religion was still in flux; England and Henry VIII had parted ways with the pope a few years earlier, but England was not yet fully “Protestant” in the way it would be under Edward VI. This prayerbook sits exactly in the middle of this transitional moment. It’s all in English – but it keeps the Latin in the margins. It has excised all the saints – except a couple indispensable ones. It emphasizes the reading of the Bible – but it retains prayers to Mary. It’s a prayerbook that would have been heterodox five years earlier and five years later, and you should ask Dr. Mattison for more information about it. The Arabic book, Zad al-ma'ad, is an early nineteenth-century (in western dating) volume of prayers from Shia Islam compiled by Muhammad Baqir ibn Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi, a seventeenth-century Shii scholar. This prayerbook is organized into 14 chapters, the first nine of which outline the devotions associated with the twelve months of the Islamic calendar, and the remaining chapters covering more general principles. Early in the book, the author explains the point of this collections: “Because numerous supplications and religious practices have been narrated from the fourteen [Shiite] Infallibles and also I have collected most of them in Bihar al-Anwar, then after considering the busy life of people, I made an effort to collect only the reliable and authentic supplications and religious practices so that ordinary people could benefit from them.” Here’s what the catalogue description says about navigating the text: “The name of each prayer is indicated in the side margin next to it, placed upon a gold palmette. When certain prayers should be prayed on certain days or when specific instructions should be followed on certain days, those days are indicated in red within the text. The body of the text is outlined with gold, red, and blue borders. Text is for the most part in Arabic, with titles and introductions in Persian.” The third book is Kevin Young’s Breviary, illustrated by Ladislav Hanka (2009). This is a fine press sequence of poems from Young’s longer sequence, “Book of Hours,” itself the heart of his poetry collection Book of Hours (2014). Young’s volume is arguably the least “religious” of the books in the room, but it is nevertheless a richly spiritual collection of poetry. Each poem is titled with the name of a different hour for prayer, as observed by medieval monks and nuns (learn more at the Organizing Time table), followed by poems titled with other terms for evening or overnight services. These poems may not be requests uttered to an otherworldly power, but they are nevertheless prayerful meditations and petitions. Breviary is illustrated by Ladislv Hanka, a wood engraver and book artist from Michigan, and is published by Sutton Hoo Press, a Minnesota-based fine press run by a husband-and-wife team specializing in literary works. References About the Press. Sutton Hoo Press, n.d. http://www.suttonhoopress.com/AboutP.html Hanka, Ladislav. Sutton Hoo Collaborative Books. Ladislav Hanka, n.d. https://ladislavhanka.com/Ladislav_Hanka_Etchings/Sutton_Hoo_Press.html Young, Kevin. Kevin Young. 2025. https://kevinyoungpoetry.com/ Ge'ez or Ethiopic Script. National Museum of African Art, 2025. https://africa.si.edu/exhibits/inscribing/geez.html. “Zad al-ma'ad (book).” Wikishia. https://en.wikishia.net/view/Zad_al-ma%27ad_(book). (Source for structure of book and translation of the book’s purpose.)
