Nieuwsbrief 869: Joint Catalogue NVvA

Gisteren verscheen de Joint Catalogue, de Engelstalige gezamenlijke catalogus van de Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren – wij zijn al sinds twintig jaar lid. Hieronder vindt u onze bijdrage bij wijze van nieuwsbrief.

De catalogus kan niet los worden gezien van de grote antiquarenbeurs op 5 en 6 oktober in het Marriott Hotel aan het Leidsebosje in Amsterdam, waar u allen bij deze hartelijk voor wordt uitgenodigd. De entree is gratis. U vindt ons in stand 18, vlakbij de ingang.

To his father and to his brother
1. (NIJHOFF – TYTGAT). RAMUZ, C.F. De geschiedenis van den soldaat. Gelezen – Gespeeld – Gedanst – Geteekend. Vertaling M. Nijhoff. Teekeningen Edgard Tijtgat. Maastricht/ Brussels, A.A.M. Stols, 1930. 28,8 x 20,4 cm. Cloth-backed boards (with illustrations by Tijtgat). 48 p. Uncut. Printed in 251 numbered copies. 1st edition.
* L’Histoire du Soldat in Dutch, illustrated with fantastic coloured drawings by Edgard Tytgat (or Tijtgat). Van Dijk 224.

a. One of 26 Roman numbered deluxe copies on Japanese paper with a suite of all 12 illustrations bound in at the end, and one of 5 not destined for trade. Inscribed by Nijhoff to his father: ‘Voor Vader/ van Pon/ op 21.3.’31’. Fine copy.
Sold

b. One of 225 Arabic numbered copies, printed on Dutch paper. One of 25 not destined for trade. Inscribed (in ink) by Nijhoff to his brother: ‘Voor Pim/ van zijn broer/ op 21.3.’31’. Working copy: for a reprint Nijhoff crossed out some words (lightly, with a pencil) in the preliminary matter and the dedication. Covers partly a bit browned. Some isolated foxing.
Verkocht

How to Curl a Cherub
2. PERK, Jacques Handwritten letter to ‘Lieve paatje en best moesje’. 21,2 x 13,6 cm. Folded leaf, written on three sides. Signed ‘Jacqus’ and dated in another hand ‘Delft, 31 Dezember 1866’. 51 lines.
Verkocht
* Endearing letter of seven-year-old Jacques Perk (1859-1881) to his parents. ‘P.S. Ik hep een krulebol. Die hep tante Klem met een vriezeerijser gamaakt en heel Delft kijk er er naar’. (‘I have a curly head. Aunt Clem made it with a crimping iron and all Delft looks at it’). Letters or manuscripts by Perk are exceedingly rare and never (read: Never!) find themselves for sale. Jacques Perk was the most cherished pioneer of modern Dutch ‘Tachtiger’ poetry, the Dutch Shelley. This is an extensive and lively letter full of charming spelling errors.
(Added: Jacques Perk, Ik hep een krulebol. Een brief van 31 december 1866. [Utrecht], Sub Signo Libelli, (1984). Perk’s letter is reproduced in facsimile. Printed privately in 68 numbered copies. 1st edition. This is Nr. 2, containing the original letter in a special acidfree envelope.)

Carnal Love

3. REVE, Gerard Pleitrede. Uitgesproken ter zitting van het gerechtshof te Amsterdam door Gerard Kornelis van het Reve op dinsdag 17 oktober 1967. Parketno. 3344 – 183 – 1 – 66. F 666428. [Amsterdam, De Arbeiderspers, 1967]. Original wrappers. 24 p. [Printed in 110 copies?]. 1st edition.
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* Inscribed (with most loving wishes) to the paramount Flemish author Louis Paul Boon ‘met liefste wensen/ voor 1968./ GerardKvanhetReve’. The eloquent defense’s argument by the author himself at his trial for blasphemy, after he had described how he made carnal love with God in the form of a mouse-grey donkey. Important publication, one of the rarest by Reve, with superb provenance. Zelf Reve Verzamelen 14.

Siren Hair
4. SLAUERHOFF, J. Soleares. Oorspronkelijke en Vertaalde Gedichten. Maastricht, Stols, 1933. Original boards covered with woven siren hair (light green) and title label. 48 p. Printed in only 15 numbered and signed copies on handmade paper from the mill of Hosho. 1st edition.
* The unfindable first edition, dazzling and delicate. According to the poet, the ‘fragility of the binding is neither in accordance with the content nor with the nature of the author. But now it’s mainly for the book lovers.’ The poet’s rarest first edition, a collection of poems inspired by or translated from Spanish-Portuguese (and Ibero-Colonial) poetry, a.o. Rubén Darío. Van Dijk 313.

a. Unnumbered copy of this volume of original and translated poems by Slauerhoff (1898-1936). In (original?) box. Outstanding specimen, with the extremely delicate siren hair undamaged. Not signed, but printed for the publisher’s archive – and as such unread and almost untouched!
Sold

b. This is number 6, printed for the well-known collector M.B.B. Nijkerk, signed by Slauerhoff in pencil. The siren hair is damaged in places and some pieces are missing, which is is almost inevitable when handling the bundle. In (recent) leather-backed clamshell box.
Verkocht

Exploiting One’s Defect
5. (CIRCUS) Eli Bowen. Le Phénomène de l’Univers. No place or publisher, but probably Belgium or France, about 1890. 21 x 13 cm. 4 p. All French text on blue paper. Portrait on first page. Fine condition.
€ 300
* Added: a window bill (23 x 29 cm) with chocolate lettering advertising this ‘Biographie’, it cost only 10 centimes. Vertical fold and some marginal tears. Very rare ephemera about circus artist Eli Bowen (1841-1924), the Seal Man, who was born without legs and measured only 61 cm, his feet growing directly from his body. Bowen was a man of the circus for all his life, touring not only his native USA but also Europe, and used his genetic defect to earn a lot of money, marry and bring up four sons. Ephemeral rarity, not in Worldcat.