French Emblemata Book by Goidtsenhoven 1613.
Size: 7 7/8 x 6 1/4 in.
This phenomenal emblemata book is titled “Le Microcosme Contenant Divers Tableaux De La Vie Humane” and was written by Laurens van Haecht Goidtsenhoven and published in Amsterdam by Theodore Pierre in 1613. It is a French adaptation of a Latin emblem book first published by Gerard de Jode in 1579. Goidtsenhoven (1527 - 1603) was born in Belgium in 1527 and died in Antwerp in 1603. He is best known as a Latin poet and author of the emblem book the Microcosm, Parvus Mundus [“A Small World” in Latin], and emblem books, also known as emblemata, were classic tales from Roman mythology and early religion which were morality tales that conveyed lessons about life. They contained an emblem or motto, poetry, and an image to go with the poetry and emblem.
The first emblem book appeared in Germany in 1531 and was compiled by Andreae Alciati to honor a friend through poetry. The emblem book here was written less than a hundred years later, so it is early in the history of emblemata.
The book has brown leather covers with five raised bands, gilt rules and a gilt-decorated spine, a gilt crown on the front cover, marbled endpapers with a bookplate on the front paste-down, penciled notes on the blank endpapers in front, a beautifully engraved title page, a six-page preface, and 74 plates with engraved emblems followed by a three-page Index (Indice des LXXIV Figures Contenues En Ce Livre) and corrections on the last page of the Index (Corrigez ainsi les fautes).
The title page is elaborately engraved with a cartouche above the title and publisher’s name, and it is based on the title page of Joost van den Vondel’s Den Gulden Winckel der Konstlievende Nederlanders (The Golden Shops of the Cost-loving Dutch people).
The emblem on the title page illustrates Pliny the Elder's legendary tale of the competition between the ancient Greek painters Zeuxis and Parrhasius. According to Pliny, the two painters entered into a contest to show off their artistic skills: Zeuxis painted grapes which were so life-like that they deceived birds who attempted to eat them. When Zeuxis asked Parrhasius to open the curtain on his painting to unveil its subject, the former was bested because the skillful illusion of Parrhasius's painted curtain had completely deceived him: Zeuxis did not realize that the curtain was actually the painting's subject.
The book measures 7 7/8 x 6 1/4 inches wide and is in very good condition. The binding is tight and the pages pretty clean, with a chip on the spine and wear at the tips on top, light rubbing to the boards, a brown stain on the blank endpapers in front, occasional brown spots inside, leaf 2 has a chip in the top right corner and leaf 32 has been repaired, a few pages have corner chips at the bottom, and overall the book is in very good condition for its age.
There is only one listing for the book on the rare book website we use and only eight found in Special Collections around the world, according to WorldCat, and the listing online goes for $7800. We are starting the bidding low to get the bidding going for this rare emblemata work from the 1600’s.
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