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Satirical work on inebriety and other 'sins'

[EOBANUS HESSUS, Helius].
De generibus ebriosorum, et ebrietate vitanda, iocus quodlibeti Erphurdien. lepidissimus. Cui accessere de ebriorum affectionibus & moribus problemata. Item de meretricum in suos amatores, & concubinarum in sacerdotes fide: quodlibeti Heydelbergensis, quaestiones salibus & facetijs plenae, tum quam pulcherrimis optimorum scriptorum flosculis refertae: novis quibusdam rhytmorum carminumque additionibus festivissimis, laxandi animi, iocique suscitandi causa, nuper illustratae.

Fine woodcut on title showing drunken animals around a table with an eight-line Latin poem underneath.

Fine woodcut on title showing drunken animals around a table with an eight-line Latin poem underneath.

Fine woodcut on title showing drunken animals around a table with an eight-line Latin poem underneath.



(Frankfurt, ca. 1530). 4to. Modern wrappers. Fine woodcut on title showing drunken animals around a table with an eight-line Latin poem underneath. (32 of 56) lvs.

Rare sixteenth century satirical work on inebriety and other 'sins', with anecdotes, drinking songs, Latin student slang and jokes. The original edition of this 'Scherzrede', consisting of 20 leaves, was published in 1515 by Matthias Maler in Erfurt. Other editions appeared in 1516 in Mainz, by Joh. Schoeffer, and in Nürnberg. The work has been attributed to Wimpheling, J. Hartlieb and Eobanus Hessus, to whom it is lately ascribed by his biographer Carl Krause and other authorities.
Eobanus (1488-1540), famous humanist and one of the foremost Neo-Latin poets in sixteenth century Germany, was the leading figure at the university of Erfurt, an important humanistic centre, where he was appointed professor in Latin in 1518. During the turbulent years of the reformation, he fled to Nürnberg, where he was professor until he returned to Erfurt in 1533. From 1536 to his death he was professor at Marburg. Eobanus was a friend of Erasmus, Melanchton and Joach. Camerarius, who published the Narratio de Eobano Hesso in 1553. He led a loose life, full of drinking-bouts and other dissolute pastimes, still he and his circle form a clear example of the difficulties German humanists saw themselves faced with on the threshold of the reformation.
Eobanus was famous for his virtuosity in making poems on any subject. De generibus ebriosorum is a wonderful mirror of dayly life in sixteenth-century Germany, in particular at the universities. The present edition is very rare. According to Simon, it was printed at Frankfurt, ca. 1530. The fine woodcut on the title represents the same scene  as the woodcuts in earlier editions, but in a more elegant version. The laudatory poems in the preliminaries are by members of the "Sodalitas Litteraria Erphurdensis", a literary society of erudites and students including Eobanus himself, Joh. Foemilius, Euricius Cordus, Barth. Gotius Threisen, Christophorus Mancini, and Berterus Damus.
The main text describes various types of drunkards, comparing them to different species of animals: drunkards who become stupid as asses, mean as dogs, fool as sheep, burlesque as monkeys, faint-hearted as calves, animals all represented at the general banquet on the magnificent woodcut on the title. Then a chapter treats the virtues of moderation and the disastrous effects of drunkenness. According to the author drunkenness has always been a major characteristic of the Germans, which he illustrates with some interesting and funny anecdotes.
Most interesting for the history of brewing is a special chapter dedicated to the various beers popular in North-Germany, like Schluntz, Kelberzagel, Kueschwantz, Staffeling, Schlipschlap, Fitscherling, etc., etc. At the end of the text, a famous bacchic song by the fifteenth-century Italian poet Codrus Urceus is added Io Io Io Io Gaudeamus Io Io, popular at all the universities of Europe till only recently. Then follows a text by Jodocus Willich, classical philologist and physician at Erfurt, Problemata de Ebriorum Affectionibus et Moribus, explaining the problems of heavy drinking in 56 chapters.
The added works mentioned on title De meretricum in suos amatores by Jacob Hartlieb and Concubinarum in sacerdotes fide by Paul Olearius are not present in this copy. The book is nicely printed in various types, the Latin text in Roman, the German text in Gothic, the verses in between in Italic, and a fine small Greek type. The many German quotations throughout the text - names of beer, scabrous anecdotes, etc. - make it also of historical interest for German linguistics.

Good copy with ample margins.- (No binding, spine loose; title sl. soiled; a few old ms. annotations in the margin; sl. thumbed).
Simon, Bibliotheca Bacchica, 293; cf. Vicaire 397; Goedeke I, p. 437; Facetien 6; this edition not in VD 16.

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Popular Books  Satire 

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