Ellen van Heteren
A mystery traveller
In the mid-seventeenth century, the Dutch city of Haarlem was a centre of culture, learning and art. In this city lived Theodorus Schrevelius, humanist and poet. Born in Haarlem in 1572, Schrevelius studied the classic languages. He became conrector and later rector of the Latin School in his home city. After twenty-four years of service, he was fired because of his remonstrant religious orientation and moved to Leiden, where he also filled the role of rector. Later, he was able to move back to Haarlem. Nearing the end of his life, he wrote the Harlemias, which added to a long list of publications by his hand. After over three hundred years, a copy of this book ended up in the special collections of the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome (KNIR). What is the story of this mystery traveller?
The Harlemias, printed in Haarlem by Thomas Fonteyn in 1648, was written because of Schrevelius’s love for the city in which he was born and raised. The author wrote a history of this city from its first building blocks to his own time. In doing so, he covered many different aspects of this history, which he divided into six ‘books’. The first book tells the tale of the city’s origins, the second of the famous siege of Haarlem, and the third that of the Dutch Revolt and reformation that followed. From the fourth book on, the subjects get more thematic: The fourth book summarizes all the city’s privileges and nobility; the fifth describes the rise of institutions such as the military, schools and police; the sixth book is all about the civility of Haarlem, its important magistrates, learned men, artisans and artists, and all other workers. The work was originally written in Latin and published in 1647, but soon it was rewritten in vernacular Dutch, because the author wanted to share his love for his city with everyone and not just the learned elite, as Schrevelius shares in his foreword to the reader. The books are accompanied by several poems and laudatory speeches.
After this engraving follows the typographical title page on which it, of course, states the entire title, the author and the impressum. On the back of this folio, someone has left their initials or some type of illegible signature. The engraving was an intricate part of the book as the same engraving is found in all other books from the print of 1648. A reprint from 1754 shows a different engraving. The larger part of the book is printed in a gothic letter, but some exceptions occur when names, poems or any type of citation is written.
Overall, the book and its paper are in excellent condition. There are no tears or breaks and no signs of biological infestations except for a little bookworm who left tiny holes in pages 247-383. With the exception of the end leaves and title pages, not a single marginalium can be found. These first few pages do carry interesting information about the provenance of the book. Most of these are, unsurprisingly, stamps and pencil-written signatures of libraries that held this book. Far more interesting, however, is a loose piece of paper that was put between the pages of the book. It contains an invitation for two persons to a concert that was organised by the Acedemie de France a Rome. A previous owner thus was somehow related to the French Academy of Rome. The catalogue of the KNIR library only reveals that the object was added to the collection in 2018, although I find this somewhat unlikely. Unfortunately, the KNIR does not seem to keep any other information about when or how this book came into the possession of the KNIR, whether it has ever been in the French Institute, or when it was bought by or donated to either institution.
Covering two books
A material study to the Italia and Iuvenilia by Nicolaas Heinsius
In his time, Heinsius was regarded as one of the greatest philologists, for his many editions and annotations of Roman texts and his Neo-Latin poetry. Nowadays, there seems to be little academic interest in him or his works. Few academic scholars discuss these topics and of the academic discussions there are to find, only one was written in the 21st century. One would have an easier time finding works on his father, Daniel Heinsius, another Dutch classicist. These limitations do not prohibit, however, to study the materiality of this peculiar book.
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The context in which Heinsius wrote his two books of elegies is a prime example of the Grand Tour, during which many youths travelled through Europe, including Italy, for educational purpose and to edit manuscripts of Roman authors. Between 1645 and 1646 he stayed in Paris. In this time, he published his Iuvenilia. In Italy, he travelled around the country while examining manuscripts of classical authors and editing those. During his journey, he also visited ruins, collected ancient coins and wrote poems inspired by his stay and his activities. With the help of his contacts in Padua, he finally published the poems. The collection is dedicated to Cassiano dal Pozzo, who helped him search for coins in Italy.
When comparing the historiated initials, one could also find more detail in those of the Iuvenilia (Image 3) than of the Italia (Image 4). The historiated initial of the letter N, found in the dedication in the Iuvenilia, depict an old man with a book and his dog surrounded by leaves. The face and the hair of the old man is very detailed. The historiated initial of the letter C, found in the dedication in the Italia, however, shows an old man whose hair is less detailed. It is also unclear what the black figures on the left of Image 3 are meant to represent. While the Italia does not include many images, some xylographic friezes appear at the end of the dedication to Cassianus and the end of the book. In the 17th century, those xylographic friezes were quite cheap as opposed to other forms of depictions, which may also indicate the low quality of the publisher. Furthermore, something could be said about the letters of the book. When taking a look at Image 1 and Image 2, one could notice that the letters of the Iuvenilia are quite slim, while the form of the letters of the Italia are less polished. When one strikes their hand over the letters, they can feel the rough imprint of the letters on the paper of the Italia, while the letters of the Iuvenilia cannot be felt.
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When comparing the quality of the paper, on the other hand, one discovers that the paper used for the Italia was far better than the paper used for the Iuvenilia. The dark colour of the latter book is a result of the amount of acid in the paper. It also results in a quite fragrant smell of the paper, while this is not the case for the paper used for the Italia. Low quality paper includes more acid, which results in darker pages over time. The Iuvenilia also includes some examples of foxing, which is the appearance of black spots as a result of the acidity in the book. The paper of the Italia, on the other hand, shows no signs of this and are still fairly white. There is only some water damage on the outer corners of the pages. The paper of the Italia feels harder and rougher than those of the Iuvenilia, but its overall quality is better.
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As mentioned before, the books has been rebound. Unfortunately, this rebinding has to be redone. It has been rebound with paper or a paper-like substance, which cannot protect the book from damage. The rebinding has been done with relatively dark paper, suggesting that the paper has a high acidity. This leaves a dark print on the last paper before the cover and could, over time, also damage the rest of the book.
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Thus, although the two books of poetry by Nicolaas Heinsius do not look impressive, they certainly give us useful information on the process of print and paper and how the various materials change through time. The visuality of these aspects invite book historians to explore the vast world of the rare book collection of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome.
One can find many treasures among the rare books of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome. Some are decorated with gold, include beautiful images or tell us a history of textual criticism. Compared to those works, the book Italia Elegiarum Liber. Ad Illustrilsimum Virum Cassianum A Puteo. Accedunt Alia, written by the Dutch classicist Nicolaas Heinsius (1620-1681) and published in Padua in 1648 seems quite unimpressive at first glance. It does not attract the reader with beautiful images on the first page, there are few historic initials, and no marginalia appear in the text. However, the book is a very good case study to examine the differences between early modern printed books because it is bound together with another of Heinsius’ books of elegies, the Elegiarum Liber. Accedunt varia diversi argumenti Poëmata, also called the Iuvenilia, printed in Paris in 1646.
When examining Heinsius’ story one could imagine that the two different books were not meant to be bound together, rather that they were bound together by a previous owner. Nowadays, the book has been rebound with paper, so the original cover of these books are lost. There are, however, various materialistic differences between the books. First of all, the books were printed in different places. The Iuvenilia is printed in 1646 in Paris (Image I) and the Italia in 1648 in Padua (Image II). Looking from the side (Image III), one can see a clear difference in colour of the paper. This shows that the material of the paper differs between the two books. Lastly, lacunes appear at the place where the two book are bound together. This could mean that the books were damaged when they were rebound or that they were poorly bound in the first place.
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When comparing the two books based on their illustrations, one could think that the Iuvenilia was a more expensive book than the Italia. The first page of the Iuvenilia includes a detailed print of the publisher (See Image 1), while the print of the Italia does not (Image 2).
Bibliography
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Jan Bloemendal, Daniel Heinsius, Auriacus, sive Libertas saucia = (Orange or Liberty wounded) (Leiden: Brill, 1602)
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F.F. Blok. Nicolaas Heinsius in Napels (April-Juli 1647) (Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1984)
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F.F. Blok, Nicolaas Heinsius in dienst van Christina van Zweden (Delft: Ursulapers, 1949).
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Paul Dijstelberge en Piet Verkruijsse, The Archeologie van het boek. (Leiden: Saru Uitgevers, 2010).
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A.H. Kan, “Nicolaas Heinsius in Italië,” Onze Eeuw, jaargang 14, 1914
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Alessandra Liberatore workshop on bookmaking (Rome, Course: Mining Library Treasures, December 9th 2021).
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Jan Papy, “Heinsius, Nicolaus.” In Brill’s New Pauly Supplements I - Volume 6 : History of classical Scholarship - A Biographical Dictionary, edited by C.M. Schroeder. Brill, 2014, accessed December 10, 2021, https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.proxy-ub.rug.nl/entries/brill-s-new-pauly-supplements-i-6/*-COM_00315
Dylan Breedeveld
1 (left) and 2 (right) - The front pages of the Italia and the Iuvenilia.
3 (left) and 4 (right) - Two historiated initials.
5- View of the book from the side.