‎MODDERMAN,ANTONIUS. ‎
‎Mijn bede aan Apollo. Voorgelezen in de vergadering van het departement Groningen tot Nut van 't Algemeen, den 11 January 1832 door Mr. A. Modderman. Fragment. ‎

‎(Groningen, 1832) ‎

Reference : 160006

‎Manuscript of a poem, recited on January 11, 1832, at a meeting of the Groningen branch of the 'Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen' (Society for Public Welfare). It is written on the first 9 pages of a small 16 page notebook. It has a plain paper cover, is pamphlet stitch bound, and measures 16x10 cm. The poem numbers 29 quatrains, each stanza numbering 4 eight-syllable lines in trochaic metre. In light verse the jurist Modderman, a member of the local elite, describes meetings of the Groningen branch of the 'Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen', during which people drink coffee and smoke a pipe or a cigar and listen to all kinds of edifying lectures. Antonius Modderman, born in Groningen in 1793 was a Dutch jurist and a conservative politician. He studied medicine and law at the University of Groningen, obtaining his doctorate in law in 1817 with his dissertation 'de pauperibus'. He established himself as a lawyer in the same year in Hoogezand, and then as a solicitor in 1833 in Groningen, where he started also his political career. He was elected a member of the 'Provinciale Staten' of Groningen, and in the revolutionary year of 1848, the year of the revision of the Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, he also became an extraordinary member of the House of Representatives of the States General for a short period. He was a lifelong active member of the Groningen branch of the 'Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen', for he held several lectures there. Five of them he published in 1852 as 'Bijdrage tot de Huishoudkunde, voorlezingen meerendeels zamengesteld uit spreuken, spreekwijzen en spreekwoorden'. This collection was well received, and proves that his prose was better than his poetry. Modderman also published in 1858 a history of the Groningen branch: 'Bijdrage tot de kennis van het departement Groningen der .Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen'. (See for a painted group portrait with Modderman: genealogieonline.nl/groningse-doopsgezinden/I35718.php, and for a photograph of him wikiwand.com/nl/Antonius_Modderman) De Maatschappij tot Nut van het Algemeen 'is a non-profit organization in the Netherlands founded in 1784 with the purpose of developing individuals and society, primarily through education. It had great influence in improving public education through better textbooks, model schools and teacher's training. The society continues to be involved in extracurricular education'. (source for this society Wikipedia) The Groningen branch of this society, established in 1791, still exists. It nowadays organizes for its members cultural and social activities in the form of lectures, performances and excursions. (Photographs on request) ‎