Hertspieghel en andere zede-schriften
€400,00
Hendrik Laurensz.: Hertspieghel en andere zede-schriften. Meest noyt voor dezen gedrukt. Amsterdam, H. Wetstein, 1694. Contemporary parchment with blind stamping (spine repaired), [16] + 224 p. With ex-libris by H. de la Fontaine Verwey. = Landwehr 753, but with extra plates. The engraved title page by J. Mulder after P.H. Tiedeman shows the Greek harp player Arion seated on a dolphin. On the opposite page a portrait engraving of Spieghel by P. van Gunst. The typographical title page printed in black and red with printer’s mark “Terar, dum prosim”, (= Let me consume if I am only useful). Furthermore, 2 unsigned, folding plates including Plato’s famous Cave, 7 engravings of the Muses by Pieter Nolpe (copies after Goltzius for the publication of the Hertspiegel of 1650) and 8 unsigned emblematic prints. Plato’s cave, depicted as a chamber of the heart. The cave is divided in two by a large wall. On the wall are all kinds of personifications (Love, Hope, Faith, Avarice, Drunkenness, Fame, etc.). A brazier behind these personifications casts their shadows on the cave wall. In the foreground on the right is a large group of people, from different classes and religions. They are discussing, but only looking at the shadows of the personifications. They are in the shadow of the wall. In the left foreground of the cave, a group of scholars are standing in the light. They also debate, but look at the personifications and the brazier. Two scientists try to convince the people behind the wall to step into the light. In the background a narrow passage to the world outside the cave. Only three men noticed the passage and walked through it. They are in the open air. The print has a Latin inscription with a Bible quote and a dedication.
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Hendrik Laurensz. Spieg(h)el (Amsterdam, March 11, 1549 – Alkmaar, January 4, 1612) was one of the most important Amsterdam writers and thinkers of the second half of the sixteenth century. He tried to upgrade Dutch for literature, science and conversation. He is seen as a pioneer of Vondel, Hooft and Huygens. Albert Verwey tried to present Spiegel as a precursor of Spinoza. Spiegel was a poet, linguist and philosopher. He was one of the founders of the De Eglantier chamber of rhetoric. His father, Laurens Pietersz. Spiegel, a wealthy soap maker and landowner, came from Nieuwe Niedorp and traded in grain, fruit and tar. Spiegel was the author of the first grammar of Dutch, the Twe-spraack, published in 1584 by Plantijn. He may have worked together with Roemer Visscher; Coornhert wrote the foreword. Part of the family converted to Protestantism, while part remained Roman Catholic. Henry himself remained Catholic, but preached tolerance towards people of other faiths, and rejected the violence of Protestants against Catholics as well as the violence of Catholics against Protestants. His brother and sister were involved in the founding of the Roman Catholic Maagdenhuis in Amsterdam. Spiegel sang about the downfall of the Armada and was one of the first poets about the rise of Amsterdam. In 1589 he had to pay a heavy fine because he refused an appointment as councilor of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, then still located in Hoorn. The money from this fine went to a poorhouse in The Hague. Spiegel published the play Numa, an adaptation of a work by Plutarch, which is associated with that refusal. Spiegel lived at Singel 140-142, in a building built by Hendrick de Keyser, but spent a good part of his life at his country estate Meerhuizen, just outside the city along the Amstel. He is depicted on a militia piece by Cornelis Ketel. In 1602, Spiegel moved to Haarlem – after he remarried. He is buried in Alkmaar, where his brother-in-law lived. Spiegel wrote a rather inaccessible work on ethics, Hertspiegel, which was published posthumously. In it he argued that man should focus his gaze on all beauty, but above all should strive for self-knowledge.
Source: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Laurensz._Spiegel
