In the Adelaide Hours there are 19 thumb-nail sized historiated initials [initial capitals that contain an illustration that is relevant to the particular passage] and which are six lines high and introduce the main sections of the book. These initials are very elaborate with foliate and knotted motifs, highlighted in white. The predominant colours are blue, yellow, orange, green and pink with a lavish use of burnished gold. These initials each contain a story, usually a moment in the life of Christ or of his mother the Virgin Mary. The letters are painted blue and pink, forming the frame for the image; there is often a further line in gold inside the main frame. It is this internal line of gold that is frequently used to bring the 'action' of the image closer to the reader, by positioning the picture over or beyond the internal frame.

Folio 81r, Letter D The nativity. Ox, ass and crib all overlap the internal frame of the letter, as Mary raises the Child to present him to the reader. The disproportionately large child wrapped in bright red cloth is the focus of the image, as are Mary's protective hands. Mary's hands cradling the Christ are also a focus in folios 89v the Adoration and 93v Flight into Egypt, a protecting gesture. Mary's gaze as well is totally fixed on her Son in these scenes, a device the artist has used to emphasize the bond between Mother and Child.

The borders are of lavish acanthus foliage, with a fantastic bird on the right hand margin. The Gothic border was a development of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, and occupying the margins of the pages, allowed a greater interaction between the text and the illustration. In the Adelaide Hours the use of burnished gold is not restricted to the historiated initial but is used throughout the border decoration.

Stocks, Bronwyn 'The Illustrated Office of the Passion in Italian Books of Hours' in The art of the book: its place in medieval worship edited by Margaret M. Manion and Bernard J. Muir Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1998 pp. 111-152

The medieval imagination: illuminated manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand edited by Bronwyn Stocks and Nigel Morgan South Yarra, Vic.: Macmillan Art Pub., 2008 pp.184-85

De Hamel, Christopher A history of illuminated manuscripts Oxford: Phaidon, 1986

The Cambridge illuminations: ten centuries of book production in the medieval West edited by Paul Binski & Stella Panayotova London: Harvey Miller, 2005

The Medieval Imagination: Illuminated manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand. Interactive extras

Treasures from the National Library: The Clifford Collection Book of Hours

Leaves of Gold: An introduction to Books of Hours

State Library of South Australia: Treasures of the State Library: Italian Book of Hours

Biblical art on the web: The nativity