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DUTCH POETRY CELEBRATING ROTTERDAM'S RIVER & ITS SURROUNDINGS
SMITS, Dirk. De Rottestroom.
Rotterdam, Ph. Losel, J.D. Beman, H. Kentlink, J. Bosch, N. Smithof, J. Losel and J. Burgvliet, 1750. Large 4to (25.5 x 20 cm). With engraved allegorical frontispiece, engraved allegorical vignette on title-page, engraved portrait of the dedicatee, Willem Carel Hendrik Friso (Willem IV, Prince of Orange), his engraved arms (in a river scene with putti) above the dedication, 3 engraved allegorical illustration plates and 1 engraved folding map of the Rotte river by Jacob Kortebrant. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled boards, spine and board edges, morocco spine label, marbled endpapers.
| Orders and Information | € 1250 |
First and only edition of a collection of poems in a typical Dutch genre, the so-called "stroomdichten" (river poetry), here celebrating and describing Rotterdam's Rotte river, its surrounding district of Schieland and the city of Rotterdam. It is one of the three most famous examples of Dutch river poetry, along with Antonides's Ystroom (1671) and Simon van Winter's De Amstelstroom (1755). It is divided into three "zangen" (literally songs), the first about the history of the Rotte river, the second about Schieland, and the third about the city of Rotterdam. These are preceded by thirteen lauditory verses by L.W. van Merken, K. Westerbaen, P. Langendijk, A. Hoogvliet, Sybrand Feitama (under his motto "Studio Fovetur Ingenium"), W. van der Pot, N. Versteeg, A. van der Vliet, L. Pater, M. van Kouwenberg, B. de Bosch, J. Badon and N.S. van Winter. The plates, mostly drawn and engraved for the present book by Jan Punt (1711-1779), show numerous voluptuous river nymphs and classical gods, swans, attributes of trade, figures representing exotic lands with their wares, Rotterdam personified, and even the famous statue of Erasmus.
Dirk Smits (1702-1752), a member of the Rotterdam art society "Natura et Arte," published three other books before his best known present work. The book was so well received that Willem IV (1711-1751), to whom it was dedicated, rewarded Smits with a prestigious post in November 1750.
The binding decoration is executed with some 450 impressions of nine individual stamps, most notably an acorn. Very good copy, with large margins, with only some marginal stains in a few leaves, slightly affecting the border of one illustration. The backstrip is damaged at the head and foot and the edges worn, but the binding is still good, with nearly all tooling clear and well-preserved. One of the most famous examples of the characteristic Dutch river poetry, about the Rotte river and surroundings.
