Rare collection of the most important of Focquenborch's works, incorporating all three parts of the Thalia, a translation of Virgil's Bucolica, and the play Min in 't Lazarus-huys. The present copy includes a half-title: Alle de wercken. It was not an official edition, but simply a collection of the works that were in stock at the publishers at the time. As such, it combines different editions, from different publishers. The collection was re-issued in 1682-87. An official edition of Alle de Werken was first published posthumously in Amsterdam in 1696, edited by A. Bogaert. A second edition was published in 1709, and a third in 1723.
Ad 1: Rare first complete edition of Thalia, a popular songbook by Willem Godschalk van Focquenbroch (ca. 1635-1670), the first Dutch poet who favoured the burlesque as genre, with the French author Paul Scarron as his main model.
Ad 2: Translation in verse of Virgil's Bucolica, made together with J. Ulaeus. The work was first published in 1666. Included here is the second edition. A third followed in 1682.
Ad 3: First edition of a notorious play by Focquenbroch, Min in 't Lazarus-huys, translated from the Spanish Los locos de Valencia by Lopez de Vega Carpio. It caused quite a scandal when it was performed at Amsterdam in 1674, but the play became so popular that is was regularly performed for well over a century. In the 19th century, literary historians considered Focquenbroch's work too coarse and tried to ban his work from official literature, but he gained popularity again in the 20th century. Today, his merits as a 17th-century burlesque poet are recognised.
The vellum is somewhat soiled. The pastedowns are detached from the bookblock, but the structural integrity of the binding is still intact, the leaves are somewhat browned, especially of ad 3. Otherwise in good condition. USTC 1815742 (9 copies); ad 1: Scheurleer, Liedboeken 174; Waller 549; cf. Scheepers II, 125 (only first two parts); Scheepers I, 103 (limited collection of works, incl. parts of "Thalia" I-II, ed. by Boeckholt at Amsterdam, 1676); ad 2: Geerebaert CXLIII 18 a; ad 3: Waller 1727 (undated ed. Widow Gijsb. de Groot, ca. 1730); see also: Scheepers I, 104, and Scheepers II, 124 (1st collected works by Bogaert of 1696); Waller 548 (idem, ed. 1709).