HEINSIUS,D. Laus asini. Tertia parte auctior, cum aliis festivis opusculis, quorum seriem pagella sequens indicat. Leiden (Lugd. Batavorum), Ex Officina Elzeviriana, 1629. 24mo. (XX),438,(2 blank) p. Contemporary calf 10.5 cm (Ref: Willems 315; Berghman 1247; Rahir 286; Brunet 3,84; Graesse 3,233) (Details: Binding ruled blind. Engraved title, depicting 2 learned gentlemen, perhaps Ewaldus Schrevelius, to whom the book is dedicated, and Heinsius' friend Adolph Vorstius, who both doff their hats for an ass) (Condition: Binding scuffed and with a few scratches, corners bumped. Small piece of leather gone at the foot of the spine. Both pastedowns detached) (Note: The 'Laus asini' (ad Senatum Populumque eorum, qui ignari omnium, scientias hoc tempore contemnunt) was published anonymously for the first time in 1623. An augmented edition appeared in 1629. The author is according to all critics the Dutch classical scholar and neolatin poet Daniel Heinsius, 1580-1655. It makes fun of people in an Erasmian spirit, and seems to have lost none of its topicality. The aim is, Heinsius tells in the 'ad lectorem', to vindicate men of letters and those who love to learn, from the contempt of ignorant people, who not only heartily ridicule (liberrime... illudunt) them, but also culture (eruditioni) and the sciences. (leaf *6 recto & verso) This eulogy is a satire on ignorance and voluntary servitude of the ass. It is hard to fathom, because of the complexity of its style, and the overabundance of erudition, (or put more positively, the veritable fireworks of learned allusions) which often obscures matters. The first edition of 1623, which contained the 'Laus Asini' only, is augmented in this second edition with 6 other pieces, 1: an Menippean satire 'Cras credo, hodie nihil', 2: 'Epistola, qua agitur an, & qualis viro literato sit ducenda uxor', 3: 'Laus pediculi, ad Conscriptos Mendicorum Patres', 4: 'Epistola de poetarum ineptiis & saeculi vitio', 5: 'Argumentum Batrachomyomachiae', 6: 'Viro Nobilissimo Ioanni Milandro, Domino de Poederoeye, Principi a Secretis: de Graeculis, quos illi commendaverat'. At the end Heinsius added a short letter to H. Grotius, and a consolation poem for his friend Baudius, on the occasion of the death of his wife) (Collation: *6, 2*4, A-2N6, 2O4 (leaf 2O4 blank) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 120250 Euro 280.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Heinsius, neolatin literature, neulateinische Literatur, satire, satyre