"The Murthly Hours is a luxurious manuscript, fashionably illuminated by Parisian artists of the late thirteenth century. Following its rediscovery in 1980, at Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute, it is now one of the treasures of the National Library of Scotland (MS 21000).".

"The Murthly Hours: Devotion Literacy and Luxury in Paris, England and the Gaelic West examines the texts of the book of hours, the additions and the illumination of both parts of the manuscript, and traces the history and use of the book from the thirteenth century to the present.

Through close examination of the Murthly Hours John Higgitt raises broader discussions about contemporary illumination in France and England, the early book of hours, literacy and illuminated manuscripts in medieval Scotland, aristocratic taste, and the meaning (or lack of meaning) of the marginal imagery. The book also includes an edition and discussion by Ronald Black of the Gaelic charms and other fragments, which may be the second oldest examples of Gaelic written in Scotland.".

"This book will have a broad appeal to anyone with a serious interest in the history of medieval art, manuscripts, private devotion and literacy, as well as in the history of thirteenth-century England and later medieval Scotland."--BOOK JACKET.