Nieuwsbrief 743: Highlights

Op 30 september en 1 oktober aanstaande vindt in het Marriott Hotel Amsterdam, hartje centrum, de Amsterdam International Antiquarian Book Fair plaats. Vijftig antiquariaten, uit binnen- en buitenland, presenteren zich. Wij zijn uiteraard ook van de partij. Gratis entree. Zien we u daar?

Vooruitlopend op de belangrijkste beurs van het jaar heeft de Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren een gezamenlijke catalogus uitgebracht. NVvA-leden bieden in deze jaarlijkse Joint Catalogue mooie boeken en zeldzame aanwinsten te koop aan.

Onze Engelstalige bijdrage vindt u hieronder. Eventuele vragen over deze items beantwoorden wij graag en op verzoek leveren we een vertaling van de beschrijving.

In de beschrijving van nummer 5 van deze lijst ziet u de link naar het televisieprogramma EenVandaag waar deze tekening te zien was, met zijn vorige eigenaar en met ons!

In the first weekend of October at the Marriott Hotel Amsterdam (near the Leidseplein), the Amsterdam International Antiquarian Book Fair takes place. Fifty antiquarian bookshops present themselves. We are of course also present. Free entrance. Ahead of this important exhibition, the Dutch Association of Antiquarian Booksellers released a Joint Catalog. In this catalog, NVvA members present beautiful books and rare acquisitions. Our contribution can be found here. We are happy to answer any questions about these items.

1. BLOEM, J.C.; CARMIGGELT, S.; HAASSE, Hella S.; LUCEBERT; REVE, Gerard; VASALIS, M.; a.o. Four Picture Test. Four original watercolors, mounted on the inside of a portfolio. Fifteen autograph manuscript stories, all dated and signed, by the writers Belcampo, J.C. Bloem, Gerard den Brabander, Simon Carmiggelt, Jan Engelman, Hella S. Haasse, Lucebert, Adriaan Morriën, Gerard Kornelis van het Reve, Adriaan Roland Holst, M. Vasalis, Hendrik de Vries, and Victor van Vriesland, and the artists Siep van den Berg and Melle (Oldeboerrigter). Thirty-one leaves. 1952-1953. Each manuscript kept in hand-lettered parchment paper folders, all together in custom-made leather-backed clamshell box with giltlettered title on spine (‘Van Lennep/ Four Picture Test’).
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* The Four Picture Test (‘Vier Platen Test’) was developed by David Jacob van Lennep (1896-1982), a Dutch professor in psychological evaluation. This psychological test consists of four watercolors of varied sizes, representing different general situations: ‘(I) being together with one other person, (II) being personally alone, (III) being socially alone, (IV) being together with many other persons’.
Writer, psychologist and graphologist Manuel van Loggem (1916-1998) showed these four pictures to fifteen celebrated or upcoming authors and artists, asking them to look only for one minute and then write a story. The writers, all writing in their own style, came up with all kinds of plotlines, dialogues and details. A recurring theme is conflict, between spouses or business partners. Hella Haasse’s story is very dramatic, Lucebert’s short story is poetic and Reve’s story (written both in English and Dutch) about the relationship between two men ends sad. ‘Het begin en het einde zijn ongedifferentieerd. Babies zijn babies, grijsaards & oude vrouwen zijn dat – voor de toeschouwer, zonder meer, in de phase daartusschen gebeurt zichtbaar elk lot’, begins Vasalis, who herself was a psychiatrist.
Unique and intriguing collection of unpublished stories.

2. CLAUS, Hugo (Gedichten). Amstelveen, AMO, 1986-1991. Original wrappers. 25 parts in slipcase (bound by Jocé Hassing). Handset in Garamont and printed by Hans van Eijk in an edition of only 25 numbered and signed copies. 1st editions.
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* Rare complete set of this bibliophile series of poems, published separately over the course of five years, to which the author added epilogues and the publisher bibliographic notes. Each booklet is one of 18 numbered copies printed on Zerkall.

3. ELSSCHOT, Willem Tsjip. Amsterdam, P.N. van Kampen & Zoon, [1934]. Original cloth with dustjacket (designed by Eppo Doeve). (8), 132 p. 1st edition. Jacket slightly damaged. Some foxing.
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* Very intimate author’s inscription to his eldest son on first flyleaf: ‘Aan mijn zoon Walter/ 29 Okt. 1934/ Vader’. This novel by Willem Elsschot, pseudonym of Alfons De Ridder (1882-1960), deals with the tragedy of fatherhood and paternity, according to the blurb by J. Greshoff. It is dedicated in print to the author’s grandson Jan Maniewski, nicknamed ‘Tsjip’. Until his death, Walter De Ridder (1901-1992) preserved his father’s literary archive.

4. (INCUNABLE). IAMBLICHUS De mysteriis Aegyptiorum, Chaldaeorum, Assyriorum. (And other texts by a.o. Proclus, Porphyrius, Synesius, Psellus, Speusippus, Priscianus of Lydia, Alcinous, Pythagoras, Xenocrates and Marsilio Ficino. Edited and translations by Marsilio Ficino.). Venice, Aldus Manutius, September 1497. 29 x 21 cm. Full calf (probably bound in the early 18th century, with some restorations). 186 p. Bookblock edges sprinkled red and blue. Last blank missing. Owner’s inscription on title dated 1558. Inscription on flyleaf by former owner James Ralston Skinner, dated 1875. A few marginal notes. Some small defects, but in general a remarkably clean and white copy.
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* Editio princeps of a.o. Iamblichus, Porphyrius and Proclus. An early Aldus Manutius edition of great harmony and simplicity, an important collection of translations and editions by Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) of various Platonist philosophers, sprinkled with texts of his own and concluded with the first printing of Ficino’s essay ‘De Voluptate’ (written in 1457). Goff J216.
Title page with index of the book, followed on verso by the printed dedication to Giovanni de’ Medici (later Pope Leo X). Large woodcut open initial at the beginning of the text. Spaces for initials with guide letters (not filled in).
The 1558 inscription on the title is hard to read; the name could be something like Petrus (…) Mecklenburgius, with an interesting monogram involving a P and a noughts and crosses grid (tic-tac-toe). James Ralston Skinner (1830-1893) was an attorney from Cincinnati, important in the theosophic world and a correspondent of Blavatsky. Skinner wrote a number of books about Egypt (especially the pyramid of Gizeh), about metrology and about the kabbala.

5. LENNON, John The Penguin. (John Lennon in His Own Write. A Spaniard in the Works). (Harmondsworth), Penguin Books, (1968). Original wrappers. 160 p. Illustrated by John Lennon. Reprint. Spine and upper cover partly discolored. Upper cover partly detached.
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* With an original signed drawing by John Lennon and the signature of Yoko Ono, on a card stapled onto the halftitle. It shows the well-known caricature of a bespectacled Lennon and smiling Ono.
Drawing and signatures were obtained on March 28, 1969 by eleven-year-old Lorenzo Ledel, who accompanied his mother, Dutch journalist Emmy Ledel-Huf (1922-1992), to her interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono during their legendary Bed-In for Peace in the Presidential Suite at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. Ledel-Huf’s extensive interview was published in the local newspaper Het Parool (original newspaper clipping inserted in the book).
The young Ledel, sitting on the edge of the bed of the world famous artists, obtained a total of ten signed cards. Shortly after, he sold these to his classmates for one guilder each. This is the last surviving card and the only card with a drawing. The large original drawing that Lennon gave to the boy on the same occasion has been lost over time…
A very appealing relic, reminiscent of a great happening!

You may see the item as presented by Lorenzo Ledel and ourselves on Dutch television on September, 20, 2017 – in the programme EenVandaag.

6. (SLAUERHOFF, J.). LOTI, Pierre IJslandsche visscher. (Translated by Th.A. Quanjer). Rijswijk (Z.-H.), Blankwaardt & Schoonhoven, [1916]. Original cloth. 228 p. 1st edition. Backstrip torn. Upper cover waterstained. Inscription (‘A C Slauerhoff’) on first flyleaf.
€ 1250
* Lenghty and dramatic inscription by J. Slauerhoff to his younger sister on first flyleaf: ‘Aan/ de verhevene/ Augusta/ aan de vooravond/ van een afscheid/ waarvan we hopen/ dat het niet voor/ eeuwig zij./ In Godsnaam – neen!/ Jan Slauerhoff/ 10 September [1916]’. Augusta Cornelia (‘Guusje’) Slauerhoff (1900-1995) was the poet’s younger sister. They were very fond of each other. In September 1916 Slauerhoff would leave his hometown Leeuwarden to study medicine in Amsterdam.
Dedication and association copies of J. Slauerhoff are notably rare.