Constantijn Huyghens' Interest in Old Germanic: A Lost Book
from His Library Retrieved. Otfridi euangeliorum liber. [Basel,
1571])
Bremmer Jr., Rolf H.; Dijkhuizen, J.F. van; Hoftijzer, P.G.; Roding, J.G.; Smith, P.J.
Citation
Bremmer Jr., R. H. (2004). Constantijn Huyghens' Interest in Old Germanic: A Lost Book from His Library Retrieved. Otfridi euangeliorum liber. [Basel, 1571]). In J. F. van Dijkhuizen, P. G. Hoftijzer, J. G. Roding, & P. J. Smith (Eds.), Living in
Posterity: Essays in Honour of Bart Westerweel (pp. 39-46). Hilversum: Verloren. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/14083
Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown)
License: Leiden University Non-exclusive license
Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/14083
’ :
Rolf H. Bremmer Jr.
Not the least of the manifold merits that can be attributed to Bart Westerweel is his unflagging and creative support for the study of the history of the book. Owing partly to his initiative, Leiden University Library in close colloboration with the Faculties of Art, eology, and Philosophy founded the Scaliger Insti-tute in to mark the th anniversary of the University. e aim of this institute is to ‘stimulate the use of the Special Collections of Leiden University Library in both teaching and research’. It will come as no surprise, therefore, that my tribute to Bart will focus on an item from one of the many and rich Special Collections : the library of the venerable ‘Maatschappij der Nederland-sche Letterkunde’ (Society of Dutch Arts and Letters).
. . university, Christopher Raphelengius. Moreover, the book was the result of the combined efforts of Paullus Merula, the Leiden professor of history and librar-ian, Pancratius Castricomius, and Jan van Hout, poet and secretary to the board of governors of the university. Merula edited the text, Castricomius – quite revolutionarily – ‘provided the blocks of philological commentary, in which lan-guages were compared, to elucidate the text’, whilst van Hout took it upon him to translate the entire text into Dutch.
Next to Merula’s edition in the case was Matthias Flaccius’ editio princeps of Otfrid von Weissenburg’s Old High German verse paraphrase of the Gospels (Leiden, University Library, E ), published in Basel in (fig. ). is complete edition of a long and important early medieval vernacular text,
although without a learned textual commentary but with an extensive introduc-tion, had preceded the Leiden Willeram edition by almost thirty years and may have inspired Merula to follow Flaccius’ example. In any case, more than once in Merula’s edition reference is made to that of Flaccius. What struck me at the time concerning the title page of the Leiden copy of this book was the ex-libris inscribed in between the lines of the title : ‘Constanter’. Apparently, the book had once been in the possession of Constantijn Huygens (-), secretary to three successive stadholders, diplomat, poet, playwright, composer and archi-tect – to mention only a few of his activities. However, I did not yet realize the significance of his ownership. Now I do, and it is the purpose of this tribute to Bart Westerweel to reveal this significance.
In a recent article, Ad Leerintveld has drawn attention to Huygens’ vast library, or rather what remained of it after his death. Its rich contents, estimated to have comprised some , to , volumes, were auctioned in e Hague in by his three sons Christiaan, Constantijn Jr. and Lodewijk, but only af-ter they themselves had made a fair selection of several thousands for their own libraries. e auction catalogue of , compiled by the bookseller Abraham Troyel, contained only , items, a mere one-thirds of the original collection therefore. To date, according to Leerintveld, only sixty-nine items from Con-stantijn’s library have been identified, but the Leiden copy does not appear in his list. A hitherto unnoticed item is the more welcome, therefore.
How much information on its history can we cull from this item from Con-stantijn’s library? First of all, both the stamp ‘Ned. Letterk.’ and its initial shelf number, , betray the book to be part of the important collection of the ‘Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde’, on permanent loan in the Leiden University Library since . Secondly, two further names of previous owners, C. van Alkemade and P. van der Schelling, also provide some useful clues.
’
printed catalogue of the ‘Maatschappij’, published in . On p. of the copy held in the ‘Dousa Kamer’ (Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books), the same number appears hand-written in the margin at the following description :
Otfridi Evangeliorum liber : – Euangelien Buch, in altfrenkischen reimen, durch Ortfriden von Weissenburg, Münch zu S. Gallen, von sibenhundert jaren beschriben : jetzt aber – in truck verfertiget. Basil. . oude bruin led.[eren] b.[and] kl.[ein] vo.
Exemplaar van C. v. Alkemade en P.v.d. Schelling. Deze zeer zeldzame oude eerste uitgaaf is, volgens Ebert, Allgem. Bibl. Lex. No. , bezorgd door Mathias Flaccius Illyricus.
ere is little in this description that is not to be found at the bottom of p. in the first catalogue of the ‘Maatschappij’, printed in :
Otfridi Evangeliorum liber. Basil. . l.[iber] ant.[iquus] . Exemplaar van C. van Alkemade en P.v.d.Schelling. Deze zeer zeldzame uitgaaf, is, volgens Ebert, Allg.Bibl. Lex. N. . bezorgd door Mathias Flaccius.
. . e main differences between the two entries concern a lengthier title descrip-tion in the catalogue, a remark upon the ‘old leather binding’, the addidescrip-tion that this book is the first edition, and an extension of Flaccius’s name with his cognomen. Both entries emphasise the opinion that the book is ‘very rare’. is remark is confirmed by the number of copies in Dutch public libraries today : the Leiden copy is unique.
Both entries mention the names of two previous owners. ey are Cornelis van Alkemade (-) and Pieter van der Schelling (-). e former was educated as lawyer at Leiden. As a man of independent means, van Alkemade spent most of his life to the study of Dutch antiquities and to assembling a large library of manuscripts and rare books on this topic. e major scholarly feat for which he is remembered today is his publication of a magnificently illustrated edition of the late thirteenth-century Rijmkroniek van Holland by Melis Stoke. Van der Schelling was van Alkemade’s son-in-law. He received a training as a Remonstrant theologian and served the congregation of Nijmegen as minister until , in which year he resigned from his office. He thereupon moved to Rotterdam, and after his marriage, became his father-in-law’s companion in antiquarian studies. He inherited his father-in-father-in-law’s vast library, which, augmented with his own collection, was partly auctioned by his children in Rotterdam in , but no trace of the Otfrid edition is to be found in the auction catalogue. e remainder of the collection was finally sold by his great-grandchildren in Amsterdam in . Since it was already part of the collection of the ‘Maatschappij’ in , the Leiden Otfrid copy must have found its way there much earlier, but how remains unclear.
On the spine of the Leiden copy, a paper label features the inscription, in ink : ‘Otfridi Euangelia. / ’. An almost similar inscription in the same hand occurs on the length of the cut : ‘Otfridi / Euangeliū’. e number ‘’ almost certainly refers to a corresponding number in an auction catalogue, but it cannot have been the catalogue that was published at the occasion of the sale of Con-stantijn’s library in . Although the bookseller Troyel and his assistants had applied a similar system in numbering Constantijn’s books, they only wrote the catalogue number on the spine, not a short title ; nor did they identify the book on the outer edge. Perhaps, these indications will lead to further identification of the auction at which the book was sold. In any case, van Alkemade did not purchase it at the sale of the library of Christiaan in e Hague in nor at that of Constantijn Jr., in Leiden in . e number does not tally with any of the octavo items in these two auction catalogues.
’ One of these sales concerns the library of Johannes Rademacher (-), a merchant and many-sided scholar. According to the only surviving catalogue, his son Stephan (Steven) organised the sale in his paternal house in Middelburg on August and following days. In the category ‘Libri Germanici in Octavo & Duodecimo’, the catalogue indeed features as its eighth item a copy of Otfrid on p. , in black letter : ‘Otfridi Euangeliorum liber/ Basilee ’. at this copy is the same as the Leiden one is revealed by the title page, which carries yet another inscription : a devise ‘In manibus Domini sortes meae’ (My fate is in the hands of the Lord), followed by intertwined initials that could be deciphered as ‘’, and the date ‘ Jan. ’. It is the devise that clinches the matter. It figures prominently on a copper plate portraying Rademacher as a reader in . Whether Constantijn was present in person at the auction, or whether
he bought the book through a middleman, remains to be established.
Rademacher had a personal interest in the roots of the Dutch language. After all, he was the author of the first grammar of Dutch. Constantijn will
also have been attracted by the language of Otfrid’s Gospel harmony, which at the time passed as one of the oldest forms of Dutch. Otfrid, for example, was extensively paid attention to by Merula in his edition of the Willeram, since he included a wordlist of ten pages culled from Otfrid’s Gospel translation. Ger-ard Vossius, too, was interested in it, as was, later, his brother-in-law, Franciscus Junius F. F. However, neither Rademacher nor Huygens seem to have been working with their Otfrid edition : the book contains no marginal annotations, except for the numbers ‘’ to ‘’ added by Rademacher to mark Flaccius’ divi-sion of his introduction into ten arguments of why Otfrid should be studied. In the end, we must make do with the annotations on the title page that tell us once more – and, if anyone, Bart knows : habent sua fata libelli.
Notes
See http ://ub.leidenuniv.nl/bc/scaligerinstitute/ : ‘About the Institute’.
Paullus Merula, Willerami Abbatis in Canticvm Canticorvm paraphrasis gemina : Prior rhythmis Latinis, altera veteri lingua Francica, addita explicatio, lingua Belgica ; & notis quibus veterum vocum Francicarum ratio redditur (Leiden : C. Raphelengius, ). Kees Dekker, e Origins of Old Germanic Studies in the Low Countries (Leiden etc.,
), ; cf. Willy Sanders, Der Leidener Willeram. Untersuchungen zur Handschrift, Text
und Sprachform (Munich, ).
. . spraach und gottsforcht zuerlernē in truck verfertiget. […] (Basle : no publ., ).
Ad Leerintveld, ‘“Magnificent Paper” : e Library of Constantijn Huygens’, Quarendo, (), -.
W. P. van Stockum Jr. (ed.), Catalogus der bibliotheek van Constantyn Huygens verkocht op de Groote Zaal van het Hof te ’s-Gravenhage , opnieuw uitgegeven naar het eenig overgebleven exemplaar (e Hague, ). Original title : Catalogus variorum & insignium in omni facultate & lingua librorum, bibliothecæ nob. amplissimique viri Constantini Hugenii [...] (e Hague : A. Troyel, ).
Kind information Silvia Compaan-Vermetten (Dousa Room).
Catalogus van de Bibliotheek der Maatschappij van Nederlandsche Letterkunde, te Leiden,
vol. (Leiden, ).
H. W. Tydeman and J.T. Bodel Nyenhuis (eds.), Catalogus der Bibliotheek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden [n. pl., n.d.].
On these two antiquarians, see P.J. Buijnsters, ‘Kennis van en waardering voor de
Middelnederlandse literatuur in de e eeuw’, Documentatieblad Werkgroep Achttiende
Eeuw, (), -.
Cornelis van Alkemade, Hollandse jaar-boeken of Rijm-kronijk van Melis Stoke : Behelsende de geschiedenissen des lands, onder de Princen van het eerste huis, tot den jare . Met de afbeeldingen van alle de Hollandse graven, geschetst naar de aaloude schilderyen der Karmeliten te Haarlem. Nevens verscheide egte bylagen, betreffende de ware toestand der geschillen, tussen Graaf Floris de V, en de Hollandse edelen. Mitsgaders de beeldenisse van Heer Gerard van Velsen ; en andere oude frayigheden, noit te voren in’t ligt gebragt. / Alles met noodige uitleggingen opgehelderd (Leiden : J. du Vivie and I. Severinus, ).
Bibliotheca selectissima continens libros theologicos, antiquarios, auctores Graecos et Latinos et praecipue historiae patriae scriptores, allosque quos summo studio collegerunt viri praestantissimi & antiquitatum patriae indigatores indesessi, Cornelius van Alkemade ejusque gener Petrus van der Schelling […] (Rotterdam : Philippus Lozel and Joh. Daniel Beman,
. I like to thank Ad Leerintveld who drew my attention to the catalogue.
Catalogus van handschriften, oudheden, penningen en munten, in de e en de eerste helft der e eeuw bijeenverzameld door Korn. van Alkemade en Pt. van der Schelling, verkocht den
jan. . (Amsterdam : []).
Leerintveld, ‘“Magnificent Paper”’, -.
Catalogus variorum & insignium in omni facultate & lingua librorum, praecipuè mathematicorum, politicorum, & miscellaneorum amplissimi ac nobilissimi viri Christiani Hugenii Zuylichemii […]. Quorum auctio habibetur Haga-Comicis [sic] in officina Adriani Moetjens, bibliopolae, in platea vulgò dicta de Hoffstraet […], Octobris , &c sequentibus (e Hague : A. Moetjens, ) (Dutch Book Sales Catalogues, -,
microfiches -) and Bibliotheca magna et elegantissima Zuylichemiana, rarissimorum
exquisitissimorumque librorum, in omnibus facultatibus et linguis, nobilissimi viri Constantini Huygens, [...] quorum auctio habetitur in aedibus Balduini vander Aa, [...] ad diem Sept. (Leiden : P. and B. van der Aa, ) ( G ).
Kind information Henk de Kooker (Leiden), who also informs me that none of these
’ Karel Bostoen, Bonis in bonum. Johannes Rademacher de Oude (-), humanist en koopman (Hilversum, ).
Catalogus miscellanevs variorum ac insignium imprimis Latinorum, Italicorum, Hispanicorum, Gallicorum, Anglicorum, Germanicorum, & Belgicorum librorum. Doctissimi viri D. Ioannis Radermacheri senioris, mercature & literarum studiosi, qui obijt Middelburgi anno . Quorum auctio publica habebitur Middelburgi in aedibus Stephani Radermacheri, in vico vulgò de Mol-strate, die . augusti & sequentibus anni (Middelburg :
J. Hellenius, ). e only copy preserved is Cambridge, University Library, Hhh. :. Facsimile of title page in Bostoen, Bonis in bonum, . Karel Bostoen kindly put
his photocopy of the catalogue to my disposal.
Bostoen, Bonis in bonum, .
Karel Bostoen, Kaars en bril : de oudste Nederlandse grammatica (Middelburg, ). For a first exploration of Constantijn’s philological interests, see Giel van Gemert,
‘Constantijn Huygens – literatuur en filologie’, in Hans Bots (ed.), Constantijn Huygens.
Zijn plaats in geleerd Europa (Amsterdam, ), -.
Merula, Willeram Abbatis, - (‘Expositio Alemanica veterum Francorum
vocabulorum’).
Sophie van Romburgh, ‘For My Worthy Freind Mr Franciscus Junius.’ An Edition of the Correspondence of Francis Junius F.F. (-) (Leiden/Boston, ), - (letter ,
