Unknown - ' t Swart Toneel Gordyn - 1677-1678

Het Swart Toneel-Gordyn – Johan & Cornelis de Witt – Fourth enlarged edition – 1678 – Copper engravings

Het Swart Toneel-Gordyn, Vertonende De Lauwer-Bladen Gestroit op het Graf van de Heeren Cornelis en Ioan de Wit. Vervat in drie Deelen.

[S.l.: s.n.], 1677–1678.
Fourth enlarged edition. Three parts in one volume. Contemporary vellum binding.

A fascinating and highly evocative 17th-century Dutch work concerning Johan and Cornelis de Witt and the political turmoil surrounding their brutal deaths in The Hague in 1672.

The work contains poems, epitaphs and other writings commemorating the De Witt brothers and is directly connected with one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the Dutch Republic: the Rampjaar (Disaster Year) of 1672.

Collation

Three parts bound together in one volume:

Part I: 96 pp.
Part II: 92 pp.
Part III: 92 pp.

Textually complete.

The volume contains:

- Engraved allegorical title/frontispiece
- Engraved portrait of Johan de Witt
- Three full-page copper engravings
- Two smaller illustrations/ornaments in the text

The portrait of Cornelis de Witt and the large folding engraving Zinnebeelt van den tijdt, which are recorded in complete copies, are not present.

A remarkable individual copy

Several illustrations have been coloured by an early, unskilled hand in red, blue and green.

The colouring is distinctly naïve and may possibly have been done by a child or young owner of the book. This cannot of course be established with certainty, but the colouring has the appearance of an old addition rather than modern professional hand-colouring.

Although aesthetically rather primitive, it gives this particular copy an unusual and very individual character and forms part of its history of use.

Condition

Bound in an old/contemporary vellum binding showing considerable signs of age and use.

The vellum is soiled and worn, with damage and losses to the spine. The binding nevertheless retains the attractive appearance and character of a genuinely used 17th-century book.

Internally generally well preserved for a book of almost 350 years old, with age-toning, occasional staining, spotting, marks and other traces of use.

Textually complete in all three parts.

Illustratively incomplete as described above: lacking the portrait of Cornelis de Witt and the large folding engraving.

Please examine all photographs carefully. They form an integral part of the condition description.

A very atmospheric 17th-century Dutch historical volume, combining political history, poetry and striking copper engravings, centred on Johan and Cornelis de Witt and the violent events of 1672.