Nieuwsbrief 622: In Aanbouw

Er is goed nieuws en er is slecht nieuws. Helaas wordt er dit jaar geen Amsterdam Book Fair in de Passenger Terminal Amsterdam georganiseerd. Maar gelukkig heeft de Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren, die onlangs haar tachtigste verjaardag vierde, afgelopen week wel een gezamenlijke catalogus doen verschijnen, waarin NVvA-leden uitpakken met hun mooiste prenten en zeldzaamste boeken. Hier vindt u ongetwijfeld iets van uw gading.

In deze nieuwsbrief staat onze Engelstalige bijdrage aan de Joint Catalogue. Wij beantwoorden graag eventuele vragen en leveren op verzoek de Nederlandse vertaling van een beschrijving.

2. CLAUS, Hugo, & Karel APPEL De Blijde en Onvoorziene Week. (With eight drawings by Karel Appel, hand-colored by himself ). (Paris, Cobra, 1950). 27.4 x 22.3 cm. (16) p. in wrappers. In red cloth clamshell box (Phoenix Bindery). Printed in an edition of [supposedly] 200 numbered copies. 1st edition. Fine specimen.
SOLD
* The original order form (with a drawing by Appel) is loosely inserted, the address strip cut off. (A facsimile order form including the strip is attached). [From the library of Albert Bontridder]. De Hand-reeks 1. Slagter 11. BHC 6.1.

3. CONINCK, Herman de, & REINHOUD Meisjes. (With six original, signed color etchings by Reinhoud). Amstelveen, AMO, 1994. Leporello in graycolored cloth clamshell box (39.8 x 26.1 cm; Phoenix Bindery). Set by hand and printed in Garamond in red and black by Rob Cox on Hahnemühle paper in an edition of 31 copies, all numbered and signed by author and artist. 1st edition.
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* Five poems by Herman de Coninck with six poignant etchings by the Flemish artist Reinhoud (pseudonym of Reinhoud D’Haese).

4. ESCHER, M.C., a.o. Halcyon. Driemaandelijksch Tijdschrift voor Boek- Druk- en Prentkunst. (Complete). [Maastricht], A.A.M. Stols, 1940-1942. Nos. 1-12. Complete with all contributions and additions (with some extras: this set is more than complete!). 34 x 27 cm. Beautifully bound in three contemporary full morocco bindings, all upper and lower sides with a triple black frame, gilt title labels, and decorated endpapers. Original upper wrappers and backstrips bound in. Spines of the three volumes minimally discolored, some insignificant scratches. Bookplates of Driek van Opstal. Fine set.
VERKOCHT
* Halcyon is generally considered “the most beautiful typographic magazine ever made in the Netherlands”, which is absolutely true. Stols used numerous fine quality papers in various formats from several first-class printers. There are contributions by a.o. J. Barcham Green, Menno ter Braak, G.H. ‘s-Gravesande (about M. C. Escher), S. H. de Roos and original prints by a.o. John Buckland Wright and M.C. Escher.
Complete sets of this quarterly magazine are rarely offered.

5. HAAN, Jacob Israël de (as:) Jacob de HAAN Pijpelijntjes. Amsterdam, Jacq. van Cleef, 1904. Original wrappers. 220 p. 1st edition. Wrappers with sellotape stripes, faded name on title, but a good copy (professional restoration report added).
€ 3000
* A mythical book of modern Dutch literature! This copy of the first edition of Pijpelijntjes, published in June 1904, is one of the very few of which the complete original wraps have been preserved, even including the backstrip.
The physician-writer A. Aletrino, to whom this openly gay erotic novel was dedicated in print, recognized himself in one of its two main characters (“Sam”, Aletrino’s nickname). Immediately after publication, along with De Haan’s fiancee Johanna van Maarseveen, he bought up the whole edition and destroyed it. Only very few copies escaped destruction. In October 1904, a second, rewritten edition was published. The first edition of Pijpelijntjes is now considered one of the rarest books in Dutch literature.

6. (HIRSCHFELD, Magnus). SAGITTA (= John Henry MACKAY) Wer sind wir? Eine Dichtung der namenlosen Liebe. Berlin-Treptow, Bernhard Zack’s Verlag, 1906 (=1905). 21 x 17 cm. Original wrappers. 64 p. Printed on laid paper. Uncut. 1st edition. Cover soiled, spine and lower wrapper creased.
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* “Who Are We?” Poignant, direct, emotional gay love poetry by Scottish-born German poet John Henry Mackay, under his well-hidden pseudonym “Sagitta” (“arrow”): rhythmical stanzas about longing and sorrow. The second volume of the Buecher der namenlosen Liebe, in first edition, luxuriantly printed in 1000 copies on Zanders Bütten with endpapers of thin Japanese paper, and covers of Imperial Japanese, printed in gold.
An outstanding association copy: not only is this one of the rare surviving copies with handwritten date and name, it’s a most important name: this is the subscription copy for ‘Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld in Charlottenburg’, on December 16, 1905. The number is 43, it probably was one of the first copies that were sold. After about 200 books had been distributed, the Buecher der namenlosen Liebe were banned (in 1909) and seized by the police. Part of this first edition was recovered by Mackay after 1918 and eventually sold, but unnumbered and without names.

7. IN AANBOUW Huge archive regarding the Dutch pre-war literary almanac In Aanbouw. Original correspondence, contributions, editorial notes, photographs and artwork. Approx. 500 A.L.S. and T.L.S. by 140 young Dutch and Flemish authors including Bertus Aafjes, Anna Blaman, Johan Daisne, Bert Decorte, Chr.J. van Geel, Jan d’Haese, Jac. van Hattum, Jacob Hiegentlich, Ed. Hoornik, Karel Jonckheere, Cor Klinkenbijl, Louis Th. Lehmann, A. Marja, Adriaan Morriën, F.C. Terborgh, M. Vasalis, Ab Visser and publishing houses Leopold and Manteau; 150 concepts of letters and submission reviews by K. Lekkerkerker; 40 original photographs and drawings; dozens of proofs, clippings and promotional material; letters and prints about the reprint that was issued to commemorate the 50th birthday of the book. 1938-1946 and 1989.
* Fascinating archive of the nicely illustrated almanac that published work of no less than 51 promising young literary authors of 1939 from Holland and Belgium. Composed by K. Lekkerkerker, In Aanbouw (meaning Under Construction) is considered the most important pre-war anthology. The letters by the (mostly male) poets and writers concern their latest work, their bio- and bibliographies (so far) and their portraits. This archive not only consists of full correspondences, but also shows Lekkerkerker’s editorial work, his consultations with his Dutch and Flemish publishers, and his efforts to hold In Aanbouw exhibitions in bookstores all over the Low Countries.
Some authors, like Lehmann and d’Haese, overload Lekkerkerker with extensive letters, poems and stories. Others are more reserved: the illustrious bibliophile Emile van der Borch van Verwolde immediately refuses to cede a photograph, Belcampo considers himself too old to be included in the almanac, and the diplomat Reijnier Flaes does not wish to be associated with his pseudonym F.C. Terborgh. Much to Lekkerkerker’s regret, M. Vasalis only sends a (charming) rejection letter. After the successful launch of In Aanbouw and its talents, some authors continue to correspond with Lekkerkerker about literature and more personal matters. The archive also contains poems and stories that were considered superfluous or unfit for publication: i.a. a satirical sonnet by Chris van Geel Jr. and a short story by Terborgh.
“U zult het [portret] echter niet krijgen, en ik hoop dat dit U teleurstelt! Ik houd het er voor dat een portret en een gedicht elkaar niet goed verdragen” (Van der Borch van Verwolde, 1-12-1938);
“Mij is om verschillende redenen er zeer veel aan gelegen dat mijn pseudoniem (F.C. Terborgh) voor zoo veel mogelijk gerespecteerd wordt. Een portret moet ik derhalve weigeren. Een zeer beknopte en onvolledige biographie zou kunnen worden verstrekt. Een bibliographie van niets is moeilijk te geven” (Flaes, 6-1-1939);
“Mijn schrijfdrift is belangrijk ouder dan mijn literaire loopbaan die beperkt is tot de publicatie van wat verzen in Helikon en van wat verzen en een korte novelle in Werk. Leopold en Gorter vonden mijn liefde voor poezie het eerst gereed. De Balzac en Dostojewsky leerden mij waardoor en waarom er geschreven moet worden” (Blaman, 29-7-1939);
“Ik ben 1,77m lang, weeg 70 k.g., heb enige jaren gehockeyd en beoefen nu athletiek. Ik schrijf verzen sinds 1936, maar vind Bix Beiderbecke een grotere dode dan Rilke. Mijn werkwijze bestaat uit het imiteren van anderen, dat ik gepubliceerd word is geheel buiten mijn toedoen” (Lehmann, autobiography 1939).
Important, multifaceted material from numerous beginners and budding authors – some with a shining future, some soon to be forgotten.

8. (INCUNABLE). PSEUDO-BONAVENTURA Stimulus amoris, (or in full:) Tractatus devotionis qui dicitur Stimulus amoris editus a sancto Bonaventura. [Deventer], In platee episcopi (= Richard Pafraet, 1488). With title page. Rubricated. Vellum with protruding edges and title ticket (ca. 1800?), spine a bit damaged (by heat?). 88 unnumbered pages, the last blank. Bookplates (about 1900-1920) from topographical author George Clinch and collector John Vearncombe Hind. Small stamp of J. Stüben. Some damage by fire on the top edge, a few leaves have burn damage at the edge (repaired), with some loss of letters. Last two pages more worn.
SOLD
* Second edition (first: Brussels 1476-1478). Compilation from the work of the same title by Jacobus Mediolanensis, dating from the end of the thirteenth century. It was attributed to St. Bonaventura for many years. About asceticism. See LThK (Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche), V 260.
Goff B 963. BSB H-52. Not in the BMC. Only 14 complete copies in libraries: two in the Netherlands, two in the British Isles, three in Germany and two in the USA.

9. (INCUNABLE). SUSO, Henricus Horologium sapientiae. Venice, Petrus de Querengiis, January 24, 1492 (Venetian calendar, = 1493). 21.7 x 16.6 cm. Overlapping vellum with title label (20th century). 64 leaves. Printed in two columns in gothic type. Tiny guide letters. Colophon at the end of quire G. Last quire H printed in red and black – containing the Cursus seu officium de eterna Sapientia and a prayer to Saint Dominic. Modern flyleaves with two bookplates. Some penciled notes on the blanks. In the book itself three written owner’s marks in ink: ‘Ego: Jo: Andreas Naltanus [?] A. et U.B.A.S. theologia professoris’. Ample margins. Many little wormholes, partly restored. Some loss of letters, but nowhere incommodious. Stamp removed from title page. A few small defects, but generally in very good condition.
SOLD
* “Hour-teller of Wisdom”, divided into 24 chapters, such as the hours of the day, for time and again awakening the latent piety of the people. The Blessed Henry Suso, a Dominican monk (from the vicinity of Konstanz, about 1295-1366), illustrated this exhortation to religiosity with visions, writing in an enthusiastic, picturesque style. He was a student and admirer of the mystic Meister Eckhart. At the end of the book a solid learning method to master divine wisdom has been added, and after that a prayer of the Dominican Jordanus the Saxonia addressed to St. Dominic. These two latter, more lessonlike elements, are printed in red and black.
The Horologium Sapientiae had great influence in the late Middle Ages, for instance on Thomas a Kempis and Geert Grote. Hundreds of manuscripts in different languages are known and nine incunable editions. This copy with its attractive, simple title in small gothic capitals from the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica of J.R. Ritman. Goff S 875. BSB B-368. BMC V 510.

10. JOYCE, James Ulysses. Paris, Shakespeare & Company, 1922. 26.5 x 20.9 cm. Rebound in black cloth with gilt spine title. Upper sea blue cover
preserved. (10), 736 p. ‘Printed for Sylvia Beach by Maurice Darantiere at Dijon, France’ in 1000 numbered copies. 1st edition. Corners bumped,
boards a bit slanted. Bookplate. Slightly trimmed for binding. Some browning and little traces of reading.
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* One of 150 numbered copies on Arches. A monument, the most influential book of modern age, with a sturdy contemporary binding. A very readable
quarto book. Nice modernist bookplate of Léon Gillain (1910-1977), an engineer, with a photo of a bookcase. Gillain’s modest signature in pencil on
the title page. This is an unusual copy: one sheet has been included twice in the binding: p. 1/2 and 7/8 (no pages missing)! Slocum A17.

11. KUYK, Harry van Groot Abecedarium. (With an introduction by Prof. G. W. Ovink). Bemmel/ Nijmegen, Harry van Kuyk, 1973. Three cloth clamshell boxes in a wooden chest (all made by Van der Heijden Bindery, 71 x 54 x 10.5 cm), with an inlaid bronze plaque by Oscar Goedhart. The boxes contain 26 uninked relief prints and five serigraphs, all numbered and signed by the artist, plus a title page, six text pages (‘Van voren af aan’, a
prelude to the Grand Abecedarium by Prof. G.W. Ovink) and a colophon page. Printed in 60 numbered copies.
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* Huge project of graphic artist Harry van Kuyk, that took three years of his life. This Abecedarium consists of the 26 letters of the alphabet, artistically translated into relief prints on very heavy paper, manufactured by the artist in his own studio on his embossing press called ‘Aldus Manutius’. Printed without ink, in their play of light and shadow the compositions are being seen to best advantage. In the folder with the introduction by Ovink are five serigraphs, counterparts of five different letters.
Paul van Capelleveen, curator of the National Library of the Netherlands, writes on his blog that artist and printer Harry van Kuyk (1929-2008) from the 1970s managed to draw – even international – attention for his unusual embossing compositions. To be able to manufacture them, he had a heavy press built that could get relief from several centimeters in a picture, both positive and negative: high and low, often combined in a single print. Van Kuyk’s publications are at the cutting edge of the artist’s book, private printing and graphic art. In libraries, his work is barely represented, but in museums all the more.
More Harry van Kuyk in stock!

12. MULISCH, Harry De procedure. Roman. Amsterdam, De Bezige Bij, 1998. Cloth (!) with dust jacket. 304 p. 1st edition.
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* One of only 50 copies in a full black cloth binding with gilt title label and dust jacket, at the express request of the author manufactured by De Bezige Bij. The 50.000 copies of this first edition were produced in (cheaper) boards with dust jacket, which the author did not like, because this version did not match the (unofficial) collected works series. His bibliographer Marita Mathijsen describes the regular edition incorrectly as bound in black cloth; apparently she possessed one of the 50 copies. So far, not found in trade.
Added: Completely blank dummy with variant dust jacket.
And: Regular bound copy of the first edition.

13. MULTATULI Max Havelaar of de koffij-veilingen der Nederlandsche Handelmaatschappij. Amsterdam, J. de Ruyter, 1860. Rebound in full cloth using the title label of the old binding on the spine (‘Multatuli/ Koffij-/ Veilingen.’). (6), 212; (4), 186 p. 1st edition. Good copy, in a 20th century binding, both half titles and title pages bound in.

14. NESCIO Dichtertje. De uitvreter. Titaantjes. Haarlem, J.H. de Bois, [1918]. Original wrappers (design R[eijer] S[tolk]). 130 p. 1st
edition. Debut. Professionally restored: spine partly renewed, some trifling paper filling of the cover.
Sold
* Good copy of Nescio’s rare first publication.

15. SLAUERHOFF, J. Serenade. Gedichten. Maastricht/ Brussel, The Halcyon Press, 1930. Original wrappers. In a gilt cloth clamshell box (with a vignette by John Buckland Wright, title on spine). (4), 40 p. Set from J. van Krimpen’s Romanée and printed in 310 numbered copies. 1st edition. Top of cover a bit discolored. Fine, intact copy.
€ 900
* One of only 10 Roman numbered deluxe copies, printed on Japanese paper – and this is one of the major books of poetry of the Dutch literature. De Halcyon Pers 3. Van Dijk 230.

16. STICHTING DE ROOS Complete series of 182 titles. Utrecht, Stichting De Roos, 1946-2015. 182 volumes. Various formats and bindings.
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* Including M.C. Escher, Regelmatige vlakverdeling (1958). Cloth-backed boards covered with paper, specially designed by Escher for this edition. 52 p. With six full-page woodcuts by M.C. Escher and with an extra series of the woodcuts in red.
The first 93 volumes have been numbered variously (sometimes “hors série”). Volumes 94-139 carry the number 152 under the colophon; starting from vol. 140 the membership number is 67. Stichting De Roos is still active and membership No. 67 is included in the ownership of this complete set.
Stichting De Roos was founded in 1945 by Chris Leeflang, Charles Nypels and G.M. van Wees. The foundation aims to publish (illustrated) literary publications by acclaimed Dutch and foreign authors in a bibliophile edition of 175 numbered copies. The complete range offers a fascinating insight into the development of the bibliophile book in the Netherlands from World War II until today, in regard to typography and to illustration. Numerous typographers and artists contributed to the success of De Roos: Hermanus Berserik, Irma Boom, Metten Koornstra, Jan van Krimpen, Kurt Löb, Frank Lodeizen, Charles Nypels, S.H. de Roos, Peter Vos and many, many others.
Complete sets are getting very rare.