ILLUSTRATED ALMANAC - DEATHS IN PLAGUE?
[Almanacs] Comptoir almanach, ofte journael, op ‘t jaer ons herren Jesu Christi duysent ses-hondert vier-en-vijftich. Gecalculeert na den nieuwen ende ouden stijl op den Meridiaen der Nederlanden. Mitsgaders een nieuwe prognosticatie, ghestelt op alle quartieren van de maen, als mede op de eclipsen, &c. ende om ‘t selve te beter te verstaen, so is hier achter de namen der tekenen by-gestelt, en de steden en plaetsen die onder het selve gelegen sijn. Item noch is her by gevoecht de dagen van ‘t reysen der coopmans boodens ‘t veren der veerschepen en binne-schuyten ‘t verlangen en verkorten van de poort-klocken etc. t’ Amsterdam, gedruckt by Gillis Joosten, boeckdrucker, woonende in de Nieuwe-straet 1654.
Almanac from the leading Amsterdam almanac press of Gillis Joosten Saeghman (fl. 1643-1702). It includes printed ‘diary’ pages following the calendars. They offer a second illustration for the month (a first picture is found on the calendar page). They also give space for notes to be written alongside dates, which are printed down the left-hand margin. Printed material at end includes notes on eclipses in 1754 and on the tides. The publisher also provides a woodcut, with explanations, of the Zodiac Man, the medieval correlation of parts of the body with zodiacal names. There are printed notes on the seasons (illustrated with woodcut personifications), boat schedules, and the orders for changing the time on the port clocks of Amsterdam and Haarlem during the course of the year.
On several occasions, the owner writes down, on the interleaved blank page opposite the calendar, a number “dead” (”dooden”) on a particular day. (3 January, 27 dead, 10 January, 28 dead, 17 January, 16 dead, 7 February, 30 dead, 14 February, 21 dead, 21 February, 26 dead, 1 August, 31 dead). This could relate to the hunting and shooting of animals, or (perhaps more likely) death in plague.
Details
One volume, 19.5 cms. x 15.2 cms., quarto, pp. [32], signed A-D4. Each page printed within a frame. First three gatherings printed in red and black. 30 woodcuts. These comprise: titlepage vignette; two different woodcuts for each month (one on calendar page, the other on a separate printed diary page); separate woodcut personifications of each of the four seasons; and a woodcut Zodiac Man diagram. Small woodcut sun and moon symbols, typographical manicules and zodiac signs. Each leaf of the first three gatherings (A-B4) with interleavings of one or two blanks. Light browning, staining, especially to title-page, ragging to blank margins of last two leaves. Bound in vellum wrappers, wallet-flap to back cover, long-stitch to spine (stain and a couple of small wormholes to front cover). Manuscript date to outside covers and inside front cover, old manuscript initials “s.h.e.”, later label “V.or Quénescourt”. A couple of small further doodles to back cover. Inside the book, overall nine lines with manuscript, on blank interleaved page facing the calendar page.
STCN 121624811.