< Back

Betrayal, murder, the devil & sibyls' prophesies

[TWELVE YEARS' TRUCE].
Dees wonder-maer end' prophetsije wis, door's geests gesicht, gebooren is, ...

Without any real title, but opening with an 8-line verse beginning as above.

Without any real title, but opening with an 8-line verse beginning as above.



(Amsterdam?), (1607/08). Small 4to. Later sprinkled paper wrappers. Without any real title, but opening with an 8-line verse beginning as above. (16) pp.

A political pamphlet warning against any dealings with Spain, in the form of a prophetic story of betrayal, the devil and murder, and prophesies by the ten Sibyls of the outcome of the negotiations.
First edition of a political pamphlet issued during the negotiations between Spain and the Netherlands that led to the Twelve Years' Truce. It begins with a long and supposedly true story of two students, one French and the other Italian (elsewhere, the pamphlet notes that a Spaniard and Italian are the same thing!). They swear to remain faithful friends even in the face of death, but the Italian betrays the Frenchman, coerces him to give his soul to the devil and then murders him. The writer claims to have witnessed the murder when he was lost in the forest and to have heard the whole story from the dying Frenchman, who begged God's forgiveness. Following this story are prophesies by the ten Sibyls. They reveal Spain's true intentions in the peace negotiations, all of course involving breaking all promises and betraying the Netherlands, but show the Dutch too clever to be fooled. The second Sibyl foretells that much work lies ahead before peace comes, and that the King of Spain will have no change of heart, but that he will be forced to suffer the Dutch trade in the East Indies, allow free trade in the West Indies to continue and even allow free trade and religion in Spain itself, with the end of the Inquisition. The eighth Sibyl predicts that the Turks will gain strength and rise up, but will be defeated with the Netherlands' help.
The pamphlet first appeared in late 1607 or early 1608. All copies have the same or nearly the same STCN fingerprint, but the STCN distinguishes two versions, apparently meaning two editions, based on differences in the setting. Asher, Tiele and Knuttel all list this pamphlet as one issued in all three editions of the Nederlandtsche Bye-Korf, but the title is given in the Bye-Korf as "Droom-gezicht" (1st ed.) or "Droom-ghedicht" (2nd & 3rd eds.), which appears nowhere in the pamphlet itself, and Knuttel says the pamphlet with the title Droom-ghedicht  (Knuttel 1463) is another edition of Vanden Spinnekop  (Knuttel 1460-1462), which is recorded under that name in all three editions of the Bye-Korf. The paper stock in the present copy appears to match that in another pamphlet (Knuttel 1401) whose only edition was issued with all three editions of the Bye-Korf, so the present edition is likely to have also been printed before the first edition Bye-Korf. Watermarked: Pot topped by a flower = "FD" (? the letters perhaps only in one twin and perhaps upside down).
A curiously elliptical and rather mysterious anti-Spanish pamphlet.

Good copy.- (With the corner of one leaf torn off, with the loss of a few words of text, and the last line on one page has been shaved, affecting only the descending letters. A printer's error appears to have led to the loss of the first letter or two of the last few lines on the first page, the sewing has come loose, and there are some minor brown patches).
Alden & Landis 608/41 (6 copies); Asher 26/35; Knuttel 1464; Tiele 675; OCLC WorldCat (3 copies); STCN (7 copies); not in JCB; Simoni.

Related Subjects: 17th Century  Low Countries  Pamphlets  Politics  Spain 

Add to Shopping cart
€ 350,00

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







€ 1.302.050,00
shipping cost:
shopping cart