LINEAGE OF A ONE-YEAR-OLD

[T'Serclaes family] Filiation et preuves justificatives de la famille de T’Serclaes. Bruxelles [i.e. Brussels], Chez Pauwels, 1786.

Only edition of this genealogical text on the t’Serclaes, a noble Belgian family who rose to prominence in the fourteenth century. Members of the family, amongst the different branches, included the assembler and vendor of the foundation collection of books at the important museum the Hispanic Society of America (New York). The history of the family as a famous institution starts with Everard t’Serclaes (c.1315–1387), who in 1356 expelled Flemish invaders from Brussels and was subsequently knighted (cf. State 2015 pp. 422–23).

Everard t’Serclaes remains, quite literally, a tangible presence in Brussels today. He is commemorated by a statue in Karel Bulsstraat, which tourists often stroke for good luck. He has also given his name to both a campus building and a street in Brussels (respectively T’Serclaesgebouw, T’Serclaesstraat; cf. Sleiderink and Vannieuwenhuyze 2012).

This book focuses on establishing the kinship of the branch of the T’Serclaes family in the Netherlands. The majority of the text comprises a genealogical list in reverse chronological order, starting with Charles-Gustave-Eduard-Auguste t’Serclaes. He was baptised in 1785—just one year before this book was printed—and his lineage is traced back to Everard t’Serclaes over the course of twenty pages.

The visually impressive folding table at the beginning of the book provides an overview of the family lineage from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, with Everard prominently at the top as ‘Libérateur de la Ville de Bruxelles en l’an 1356’.

Very few copies of this book survive today, and this one was once owned by a member of another noble family from the Low Countries — the Kerchove d’Ousselghem. The present copy is also notable for preserving corrections by attentive early reader(s).

Details

Printed. One volume, 22.8 x 19 cms in binding, quarto, pp. [6] 29 [1]. One folding genealogical table, approx. 61 x 42 cms unfolded (watermark H L E). Decorative borders on title page and folding genealogical table. Woodcut decoration to title page, miscellaneous woodcut decorations at section divisions. Marginal paratext (pp. 1–21, 24–26).

Condition: browning to pages; some foxing towards end. Inky fingerprint(?) stains to blank outer margins of title page. Browning, spotting, and a few tears to folding genealogical table (largest tear approx. 6 cms).

Bound in 19th-century black goatskincovered boards. One free endpaper at front and one at rear. Pastedowns at front and rear. Rubbing to leather at corners and base of spine, leather slightly scratched on covers.

Provenance:

1. Early handwritten correction to folding genealogical table (Jean > Joseph). Possibly linked to provenance 2.
2. Early(?) handwritten correction to a date on A3r (18 > 15[?]), possibly linked to provenance 1.
3. Bookseller’s label affixed to front pastedown (Avis. Cet Ouvrage se vend chez FRANÇOIS MICHEL, Imprimeur-Libraire rue de Namur No 36, à Louvain.)
4. Owned by a member of the Flemish noble Kerchove d’Ousselghem family. Armorial bookplate with initials K. O. and Kerchove family motto (ENDURER POUR DURER).
5. Pencil ownership inscription on front free endpaper (Jilet[?] Jaussié).

Bibliography:

STCV 7026395. OCLC and STCV show copies at Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut te Rome, and Stedelijke ErfgoedbibliotheekStadsarchief Mechelen.

L'association Kerchove vereniging (AKV) website, last accessed 4 June 2021 via https://www.kerchove.eu/nos-racines/kerchovepour-les-nuls/.

State, Paul F, Historical Dictionary of Brussels, 2nd edn. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), pp. 192, 422–23.

Sleiderink, Remco, and Bram Vannieuwenhuyze, ‘Everard T’Serclaes. Beeldvorming en lieux de mémoire rond een Brusselse stadsheld’, Tijd-Schrift. Heemkunde en lokaal-erfgoedpraktijk in Vlaanderen 2, nr. 1 (2012), pp. 6–21. Last accessed 4 June 2021 via www.academia.edu.