‎VERGILIUS MARO P - JOOST VAN DEN VONDEL ‎
‎Publius Virgilius Maroos Wercken, vertaelt door I.V.Vondel. ‎

‎Publius Virgilius Maroos Wercken, vertaelt door J. v. Vondel. ‎

‎Amsterdam., By J. Roman, A. Lobedanius, J. Kouwe & J. Roman de Jonge, 1737. ‎

‎4to. (XXX, including frontispiece & title),476 p. Contemporary paper covered boards 22 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 297005618; Geerebaert 143,7 does not mention this reissue of 1737; OiN 379) (Details: The frontispiece depicts scenes and props from the poetry of Vergil, and is engraved by 'C. de Putter 1736'. The copper plate for this frontispiece was cut by De Putter exactly after the frontispiece of the first edition of this translation, Leiden 1646. In 1660, and in 1696 the original plate was used again for the verse translations of Vergil of Vondel, but then under the name of the engraver T. Matham. Woodcut printer's mark on title, 2 ploughing oxen, motto: 'trahite aequo jugo') (Conditon: Binding worn and chafed. Wear to the extremes. Stamp and name on the title. Frontispiece dustsoiled, and having a small hole, diameter of ca. 0.4 cm, not affecting the plate. Marginal ink annotations on p. 111. Rear hinge cracking, but strong) (Note: This is a prose translation into Dutch of the Bucolics, Georgics and the Aeneid of the Roman poet Vergil, 70-19 BC, works which were already classic in antiquity. In the Middle Ages he was also widely read. Of no other Latin author survive so many manuscripts as of Vergil. Vergil 'became a European classic, not only in the sense that he was a central author for many European readers for many centuries, but also in the further sense that his works crucially helped such readers to define themselves as Europeans'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass. 2010, p. 965) Vergil's work was used for opera's (Orfeo), for epics (Paradise Lost), by painters, et alii. He was served well by many translations in every European language. Vergil's classic work was translated in prose by a Dutch classic, the playwright and poet Joost van den Vondel, 1587-1679. In 1646 he published a prose translation of Vergil, followed in 1660 by a verse translation, which was reprinted in 1696. Vondel was one of the most important authors of the Golden Age in the Netherlands. In the dedication (leaf *2) Vondel declares that he made the prose translation for the literary minded, but also for poets, orators, for schools, and for painters and draughtsmen) (Provenance: Oval stamp on the title: 'Bibliotheca Bernenis Ordinis Praemonstrantensis, Heeswijk'. (See 'Abdij van Berne' in Wikipedia) Name on the title of 'Siepkens Coppens'. Mr. Wilhelmus Henricus Siepkens, 1797-1877, donated after the death of his wife Anna Antonia Siepkens Coppens, 1793-1866, in 1867 a huge stained glass window to the cathedral of 's-Hertogenbosch. The panels costed 1400 guilders. Added is a draught we found in the book of a letter of complaint, probably written by the abbott or the libarian of the abbey, about lacking issue 25 of the 'Katholieke Illustratie', a weekly periodical for catholics. This periodical was founded in 1867. The address given on the draught is 'in de Abdij Berne te Heeswijk'. This book probably didnot stay long on the shelves of the abbey's library. In Wikipedia we read that the abbey sold hundreds of old books and manuscripts in 1886/87 to finance the foundation of the 'Gymnasium St. Norbertus') (Collation: pi2, *-3*4; A-3N4, 3O2) (Photographs on request) ‎