[SONGBOOK].
Groot Hoorns; Enkhuyser en Alkmaarder liede-boeck, versiert met veel mooye bruylofts-liedekens en gesangen.
Purmerend, Adriaen Munnik, [early 18th century]. Small 8vo (7.5 x 5 cm) With a woodcut illustration of a banquet on the title page, a near-full page woodcut illustration of a domestic scene on the verso of the title page, and 1 woodcut decorated initial at the start of the text. Further with music notation in the text. Contemporary red velvet over boards, with two ornate silver clasps on the fore edge. The catch- and anchorplates are slightly heart-shaped and show a bird among some foliage. Further with gilt edges and marbled endpapers. 310, [10] pp.
€ 2,750
A luxuriously bound, extremely rare edition of one of the most popular Dutch songbooks of the 18th century. Songbooks such as these are also known as mopsjes and contain songs for weddings, funerals, as well as other occassions where people traditionally sang together. The name mopsjes is reminiscent of the shepherd Mopsus from Virgil's Bucolica who sings a song he made to mourn the fabled shepherd Daphnis. Mopsus also features in many of the songs contained in this edition. The earliest books containing songs from Hoorn date from the first quarter of the 17th century. Soon afterward, collective editions appeared, featuring the songs from two or more cities, in order to sell the book in a wider region. This edition contains songs from Hoorn, Enkhuizen, and Alkmaar traditionally sung at weddings but also drinking-songs and the odd song on more risqué topics.Very handsome copy bound in red velvet and can be securely closed with two decorated silver clasps which display a bird amongst foliage. At least two of the three other known copies of this work are similarly bound, the binding of the third copy (at the Bibliotheek Rotterdam) is not recorded in their catalogue. The copy at the KB national library of the Netherlands is also bound in red velvet, the copy at the VU Amsterdam is bound in black shagreen, and both contain the exact same style of silver clasps. The KB ascribes the silver work on their binding to the 19th-century silversmith Johannis Paaij in 's-Hertogenbosch, while the VU note that the silver clasps on their binding are the work of Andries van Weggelen (fl. 1703-1737?) in Haarlem.
The velvet is rubbed, mainly around the spine and edges of the boards, probably mostly due to use of the book, the corners of the boards are slightly damaged, some foxing/staining throughout. A very rare early-18th-century Dutch songbook in a remarkable red velvet binding with small but ornate silver clasps. STCN 164435530 (2 copies); WorldCat 914280212 (3 copies, same as STCN, incl. the copy with the different fingerprint); cf. STCN 332736431 (1 copy, other issue with slightly different fingerprint).
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