In 1744 Michael Bidstrup, a bookseller and collector of Hermetic and alchemical literature, complained about the lack of interest in the Republic for serious, ‘philosophical’ books. Instead, readers preferred to read trash like the adventures of Till Eulenspiegel.

Bidstrup

David Joris

‘Uylenspiegel, Jan Tamboer, and the like trash are more popular in these Low Countries than all other books of sounder substance. As for the Philosophical Books, this sad fate afflicts them above all others’. (no. 1 in the exhibition)

Bidstrup’s catalogue, more a full-blown bibliography, was compiled in Dutch and printed in Amsterdam – an antidote against the ‘trash’ flooding the market. The catalogue contains a miscellany of alchemical, mystical-spiritualist and Hermetic books – most of which are present in the holdings of the BPH. For this exhibition, however, we have exclusively selected books that were printed in the Netherlands. Among them there are rare and riotous books such as the heretical Wonderboeck by David Joris, a chiliastic pamphlet by Johannes Rothé calling for civil disobedience, but also reprints of alchemical ‘Golden Oldies’ like Geber and the Triomphe hermétique.

Johannes Rothé

Johannes Rothé

Most of the books shown in this exhibition have survived in only one copy, a fact which came to light last year when relevant items in the BPH collection were catalogued for the Short-Title Catalogue Netherlands. This national project, which took all of 30 years to complete, aims to describe all books printed in the Netherlands between 1540 and 1800 in the widest possible range of Dutch libraries. The BPH holds more than 800 books printed in the Netherlands; 100 of these are unique in the Netherlands, in some cases they may even be the only copy known to have survived in the world.

A choice selection from these 100 unique copies has been carefully combined with a number of other copies, less rare but still very special. The title of this exhibition, Goddelijke stoffe (Divine matter) is derived from a work by Nicolaus Kunholdt.

Geber

Triomphe hermétique

To mark the completion of the STCN project, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague is organizing a one-day conference on 25 June. The KB website will also be hosting a number of concise virtual exhibitions of participating libraries. The BPH is represented with a selection of 14 books from its new exhibition 'Divine matter'.

Nicolaus Kunholdt

Exhibition guides in Dutch and English (not for sale).