TYPOGRAPHICAL TOUR DE FORCE

Zachmoorter, Michel: Thalamus sponsi. Bruydegoms beddeken. Ghedeylt in twee deelen... T’Antwerpen by Geeraert van Wolsschaten 1628. 

Copy in contemporary binding of this typographically interesting edition of a mystical treatise by Ghent priest Michel Zachmoorter (1582-1660). The updated dedication in this third corrected edition is set in multiple types, notably Civilité, which represents a typographical departure from the previous editions by the same printer (1623, 1625). Interestingly, both the type and content of this book reflect a meeting of cultures in north-western Europe. 

Originally known as lettre françoises, Civilité type was modelled on French cursive script. It was first introduced by Robert Granjon (1513–90), who envisaged it as the national typeface of France. Ultimately, however, ‘Civilité types found wider use in the Low Countries than they did in France’ (Carter and Vervliet 1966, p. 33). The present edition uses Granjon’s Civilté Type A2, described by Carter and Vervliet as ‘deservedly a famous type’ (p. 45). The book was printed in Antwerp in the 1620s, where Granjon had spent a significant amount of time in the 1560s. The appearance of Civilité is striking, especially juxtaposed with the roman, italic, and Gothic type used in other parts of this same edition. As well as typographical changes, this third edition also introduces a different intaglio frontispiece. 

The text itself brings together the medieval mystical tradition from Brabant and the Rhineland with the mystical writings of the English Capuchin Benet Canfield (1562-1610) and the Spanish Carmelite Juan de la Cruz (St John of the Cross; 1542-1591). Zachmoorter is notable for being the first to publish a Dutch translation of John’s work. 

The ownership inscription of Barbara Joris is dated 1791, suggesting that this book was being read well over a century after printing. A reference to ‘Marolekken in Emaus’ raises the possibility that she was a member of a religious group, perhaps a nun or beguine. We note, for comparison, an Easter letter from the Carthusian Bruno van Heusden addressed to ‘Zuster Maria Huygens, Marolleken in Emmaüs, tot Loven’ and dated 25 April 1791.

Details

Printed, one volume, 13.5 x 8.5 cms (in binding), duodecimo, pp. [36] 300, 364, [8]. Engraved title page, printed borders, decorative initials, tailpieces. Bound in vellum over over boards with fore edge cover extensions nd ties (front ties alum-tawed skin, remaining tie in cloth). Ink lettering to spine. Inscription to half title: ‘Behoort toe aen Barbara Joris Marolleken in Emaus 1791’.  Condition (textblock): light browning to paper, occasional small loss to upper corners (affecting borders but not text). Puncture to blank lower margin of sig. B5 (presence of printer’s ink around it suggests a hole for hanging and drying the sheet). Sig. N6 small burn hole, also in blank lower margin. Condition (binding): slightly soiled, small cracks to spine, lower tie to rear cover lacking.  

STCV 3120006 (one of two states). Bibliotheca Catholica Neerlandica Impressa 1500-1727 (Hagae Comitis, M. Nijhoff, 1954), no. 8034. Harry Carter and Hendrik D. L. Vervliet, Civilité Types (Oxford, OUP for the Oxford Bibliographical Society, 1966), no. 365.

OCLC shows copies outside mainland Europe at Ohio State University and Emory University.

Karel Porteman, ‘Zachmoorter, Michel’, Literair Gent, https://www.literairgent.be/lexicon/zachmoorter-michel. Gedichten door Bruno van Heusden, uitgegeven door P. C. Cassiers (Antwerpen, Drukkery van L. Schotmans, 1856), p. 47.