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The Collation

“Très-humblement”: Tracing the mysteries of a 1602 Dutch pamphlet

For more than a year now I have been working with volunteers on the Flemish holdings in the Folger. 1 In the course of this project, we came across a small pamphlet, an anonymous booklet printed in 1602 (Folger DH110 K1196 Cage). The text is a response to another pamphlet and it indicates neither a place of publication nor a printer. But the flyleaves used by the binder of this little book tell a nice little story about the bookseller’s scene in Mechelen in the beginning of the 19th century.

Both at the beginning and at the end of the volume, scrap papers have been used along with a number of blank flyleaves, three at each side of the book block. The scrap paper comes from a draft letter and from a handwritten list of books with prices. The latter document lists seven books and was obviously part of a much longer list of books, the oldest of which dates back to 1695 and the most recent to 1780. The numbers in front of the titles and the price indications seem to indicate that this probably was at some point an auction catalog. 

  1. I reported on this project at the annual international conference of Sixteenth Century Society and Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Friday 25 October 2013.
  2. Goran Proot, Diederik Lanoye & Willy Van de Vijver, Gedrukte stad. Drukken in en voor Mechelen, 1581-1800. Brugge 2010, p. 102.
  3. See Kathryn Gucer’s Collation post for more on the Folger’s Mazarinades.
  4. Between April 1955 and October 1992 the Folger bought about 2,700 Knuttel items, the bulk of which have not yet been entered in Hamnet. To see which items the Folger holds, one needs to consult the annotated copy of Knuttel’s Catalogus in the Acquisitions Office.
  5. See the obituary notice by P.J. Blok in the Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde 1922, pp. 17–23.
  6. This pamphlet was acquired in 1997 together with 19 other Knuttels from Notebaart.
  7. See file no. D1302 in the Acquisition Department, which lists all the individual items. The lot is briefly described in Martinus Nijhoff’s Standard Catalogue 1954–1955, under no. 963 (p. 212), where it is described as an “Extensive collection of contemporary historical pamphlets on the events in the Netherlands from 1574–1700, arranged after Knuttel. Amst., etc., 1574–1700. 2150 pieces. 4to. sewed. $1175.-”
  8. See the description in the STCN for pflt 1195.
  9. See Anne Rouzet, Dictionnarie des imprimeurs, libraires et éditeurs des XVe et XVIe siècles dans les limites géographiques de la Belgique actuelle. Nieuwkoop 1975, p. 2310-231. With thanks to Steven Van Impe.
  10. It also appears in another edition from 1602, present in the University Library of Ghent University (STCV 6178303).

Comments

why would a Brussels printer print a tract against Dutch reunification plans? 70 arguments that is a lot.

Lode Goukens — December 16, 2013

Reply

Dear colleague,

Thank you for this question. The motives of the author, who calls himself a “zekeren liefhebbere des vaderlants” (“a certain devotee of the fatherland”), are clear from the two verses on the title page. He states: “Van eendracht en vrede spreken, en is niet quaet: // Maer ick pryse hem, die vrede soect metter daet.” So he would rather appreciate it if the author of the original pamphlet would effectively be seeking to conclude peace. This becomes immediately apparent from the first refutation of the original pamphlet, on fol. A2 verso, where the anonymous author of the Brussels reply says, that the pamphlet is only meant to agitate, to threaten and to frighten (“alleenlyck om ons te beroeren, dreygen, vervaert te maecken”).

Best wishes, and happy holidays!

Goran

Goran Proot — December 18, 2013

Reply

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