Balthasar Bekker / Joannes Henricus Bekker - De Betoverde Weereld / Sterf-bedde, van den eerwaarden, godsaligen en seer geleerden, do. Balthazar - 1739

Balthasar Bekker - De Betoverde Weereld zynde een grondig ondersoek van 't gemeen gevoelen aangaande de geesten derselver aart en vermogen bewind en bedryf: als ook 't gene de Menschen door deselver kraght en gemeenschap doen. - Deventer, Marinus de Vries, 1739

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Joannes Henricus Bekker - Sterf-bedde, van den eerwaarden, godsaligen en seer geleerden, do. Balthazar Bekker; in sijn leeven S.T.D. en predikant tot Amsterdam: Ofte een oprecht bericht hoe hy sich gedurende sijne siekte gedragen heeft; voornamentlijk voorgestelt uit sijne redenen tegens verscheidene gebruikt: en sulks na een vooraf-gaande kort ontwerp van sijn leeven, volgens sijn eigen hand-schrift, gevonden onder sijne nagelatene papieren. Te samen, tot stuitinge van valsche geruchten, uytgegeeven. - Amsterdam, Johannes Rotterdam, [2nd quarter 18th century?].

- 5 parts in 1 volume - original blind-stamped calfskin binding (medallions, fillets, floral motifs; spine with large raised bands and letter piece - 21 × 18 cm

Condition: (very) good: neat original binding with very solid joints (top corners somewhat scuffed); some quires are a bit loose in the block but still well attached); very neat, very crisp, very white paper (without portrait, first five pages lack a very small piece from the bottom corner, otherwise complete and as new! Including title engraving and all four title prints). See pictures.
Note: the pictures are a bit dark, this is caused by twilight when they were taken; in reality the paper is very clean and white!


Very rare, most comprehensive Deventer edition of the “Betoverde Wereld”.
Includes a description of Balthasar's deathbed by his son Joannes.

Bound in a beautiful leather binding, very white and very crisp paper! Title engraving on thick paper.
Classic in the canon of influential 17th-century books.

Collector’s item!


In this book Bekker disputes the existence of sorcery, magic, possession by the devil and the devil himself. This book was very influential in the fight against the belief in sorcery and was translated into German, French and English.

Bekker was a Dutch Reformed minister and theologian, born in Friesland in 1634. He studied at Franeker university and preached in Amsterdam from 1679 until his death in 1698. Although “The World Bewitched” brought Bekker fame, it also caused a great scandal, causing him much trouble. Many people expressed their disapproval in numerous pamphlets, and in 1692 Bekker was removed from his office in Amsterdam by the Synod of Alkmaar due to heterodoxy.

In The World Bewitched, Bekker tried to prove that the devil could not influence the fate of mankind. Using Cartesian thinking, Bekker concluded that the general idea that the devil has power in the natural world should be seen as a relic of pagan religion and as superstition. This hypothesis relegated all stories of sorcery, witchcraft, ghosts and phantoms to the realm of the imagination. This work is therefore very influential and an important part of 17th-century Dutch religious and scientific history.