Jacob Cats (ONBEKENDE DRUK) - 's Werelts begin, midden, eynde. Besloten in den Trou - ring, Met den proefsteen van den selven. Nu - 1647

Jacob Cats: The World’s Beginning, Middle, and End. Bound in the Treasure - ring, With the test stone of the same. Now first for the third reprint, and with the conversation of Philogamus; and Sophroniscus enlarged: Not printed before this. By J. Cats. In Den Briel. Printed by Michiel Feermans, Bookseller at the market, in the Staten Bible, Anno 1647. 8o: (42 with title plate and portrait)736, (6) with portrait)124 p. Original reasonably good parchment binding. Sturdy paper with here and there a very light discoloration or small spot. Complete with the text engravings.

** Rare edition. Not in STCN and WorldCat. Not in Museum Catsianum. Possibly an unknown edition. A later edition by Michel Feermans 1662 is known.

Jacob Cats (10 November 1577 – 12 September 1660) was a Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. He is best known for his emblem books. Jacob Cats was born on 10 November 1577 in Brouwershaven. After losing his mother at a young age, he and his three brothers were adopted by his aunt Anna Breyde, sister of his mother, and his uncle Doen Leenaerts. Cats went to school in Breda. He then studied law in Rotterdam and Paris and returned to the Netherlands, where he settled in The Hague and began to work as a lawyer. His defense speech for someone accused of witchcraft gained him many clients and some reputation. Around this time he had a serious betrothal, which was broken just before the wedding because he contracted tertian fever (a form of malaria), which over about two years could not be cured. For medical advice and a different environment Cats went to England, where he in vain consulted the highest authorities. He returned to Zeeland to die, but was mysteriously cured with the powder of a traveling doctor (later sources claim he was a quack). He married on 26 April 1605 to a wealthy lady, Elisabeth van Valckenburg, and subsequently lived in Grijpskerke in Zeeland, where he devoted himself to agriculture and poetry.