< Back

Eroticism and the original sin

[BEVERLAND, Adrianus van].
Peccatum originale [GREEK TEXT] sic nuncupatum, philologice [GREEK TEXT] elucubratum   Themidis alumno. Vera redit facies, dissimulata perit.





Eleutheropoli (=Leiden), extra plateam obscuram ... (in fine : In horto Hesperidem, typis Adami et Evae terrae filii, 1678). 8vo. Contemporary vellum, double gilt fillets on both sides. (10), 146, (4) pp.

Rare original edition of this highly controversial and anonymously published work in which Van Beverland claims that the only sin of Adam and Eve was their 'conversatio carnalis' and that the original sin was nothing else than the erotic stimulus present in every human being. This thesis was not new and Van Beverland had borrowed it from Henricus Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim's De originali peccato (Lyon, ca. 1550). After the pantheist R. Fludd had focussed attention again on this idea in the beginning of the 17th century, Van Beverland tried to prove it with loads of citations from the Bible, Church fathers and Latin and Greek authors with the result that Church authorities in the Netherlands got furious. When a second and adapted edition appeared a year later, in 1679, with his name on the title, he was immediately arrested and banned from Holland. Van Beverland fled to England and lived there for years under the patronage of Isaac Vossiuis, who was, together with Nicolaus Heinsius, one of his best friends and protectors; he studied in Oxford, where he also brought together an important collection of rare books, paintings and prints.
Van Beverland (1650-1712) was rich, gifted and learned but used his abilities to live a dissipated life and to publish a number of 'scandalous' books, among which this book on the original sin is the first and perhaps most important one. The book was dedicated to an anonymous friend, which probably is Jacobus de Goyer from Utrecht. References to the work are almost always to the second edition which appeared under his own name and which is far less rare that the first. Two French translations or adaptations appeared both in the the same year: 1714, one by J.F. Bernard (Histoire de l'état de l'homme dans le péché originel) ansd the other by Fontenai (Etat de l'homme dans le péché boriginel); a German translation of the former was published in 1746.

Good copy.- (Some browning throughout; library stamp cut out from the title).
NNBW VII, cols. 126-7; P. de la Rue, Gelett. Zeeland, p. 10-1; Clement, p. 272; A. Gerbi, Il peccato di Adamo ed Eva, storia della ipotesi di Beverland. Milan 1933; W. Elias, Het Spinozistisch erotisme van Adriaan van Beverland. Brussel 1974; R. de Smet, Hadrianus Beverlandus (1650-1716). Non unus e multis peccator. Brussel 1988.

Related Subjects: Erotica  Religion 

Add to Shopping cart
€ 1.800,00

Prices in EUROS (€), shipping and BTW/VAT extra.

< Back

Terms of sale

All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are nett and in (€) EURO. VAT/BTW, postage, and insurance are not included. 

Free shipping for orders over € 2,500.  EU customers: if applicable, please quote your VAT number when placing orders.

Preferred mode of payment: by credit card through our secure online payment service, which is facilitated by Ogone. If you wish to make other arrangements, please contact us. Terms of sale

E-mail this to a friend







This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots. (see: www.captcha.net)

Type the characters that you see in the box (5 characters). The code can include characters 0..9 and A..F.*

  


Antiquariaat FORUM B.V.
Tuurdijk 16
3997 MS t Goy-Houten,
The Netherlands
Phone: (+31) (0)30 601 1955
Fax: (+31) (0)30 601 1813
E-mail: info@forumrarebooks.com
Web: http://www.forumrarebooks.com