HAECHT GOIDTSENHOVEN, Laurens van.
Le microcosme contenant divers tableaux de la vie humaine representez en figures avec une brieve exposition en vers francois.
Amsterdam, Theodore Pierre (= Dirck Pietersz.), [not before 1613]. 4to. With the engraved title-page of Joost van den Vondel's Der Gulden Winckel der konstlievende Nederlanders... (1613), with an engraved slip with the present title Le Microcosme contenant ... formerly mounted on it, now removed and kept separately; also with 74 engraved emblems in text (ca. 8.5 x 12 cm) by Gerard de Jode. 19th-century half calf, gold-tooled spine. [4], 74, [2] ll.
€ 6,500
First and only edition of a French adaptation of a Latin emblem book by Laurens van Haecht Goidthoven (Laurentius Haechtanus Goidtsenhovius, 1527-1603). The Latin edition was first published in 1579 at Antwerp by Gerard de Jode (1517-1591), entitled Mikrokosmos, and contained the same 74 engraved emblems as the present edition. It is an edifying work, using the traditional structure of an emblem book: motto, pictura, epigram. Each emblem is accompanied by a French motto above, a citation from the Bible below and a French poem on the facing page. De Jode and Van Haecht enlarged their scope, however, representing a range of curious subjects from Greek and Roman legends, including Arion and the dolphin, Penelope and Odysseus, Cyrus and Tomyris, and many more. The present edition reuses the engraved title-page of Joost van den Vondel's Den gulden winckel der konstlievende Nederlanders: a Dutch adaptation of the Mikrokosmos, which was first published in 1613 by Dirck Petersz. The publisher printed an engraved cartouche with the present French title to be mounted on the Dutch title-page.
Leaves S2 and S3 are misbound. Slightly foxed throughout, with some plates rather worn, the outer margins of the first 12 leaves restored and a stain in inner margin of first two leaves. Binding rubbed along the extremities. Landwehr, Emblem and fable books 558; Praz, p. 427; STCN (5 copies); WorldCat (8 other copies).
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