17th Century Jokes

1677. Item #83

[HUMOR] Admiranda Rerum Admirabilium Encomia, sive Disserta & Amoena Pallas, Disserens Seria sub Ludicra Specie. Hoc est, Dissertationum Ludicarum...
Noviomagi Batavorum (Nijmegen): Ex Typographia Reineri Smetii, 1677.
12mo. [12], 660 pp. With an added engraved title page and 8 striking full-page copper-engraved satirical plates, each captioned and numbered. Contemporary limp vellum with central oval tool of a stork or crane in a wreath on upper and lower covers, decorative corner tooling, raised bands with gilt florets on spine, ink manuscript title. Some wear, textblock separated from binding but eminently repairable, front blank detached. modest cover loss to upper front corner, but binding sound overall.

A curious and richly illustrated 17th-century Dutch satire, “Disserta & Amoena Pallas...” offers a mock-scholarly tribute to various aspects of human folly. Under the guise of learned dissertations, the essays humorously praise unlikely subjects such as dirt, smoke, fleas, and laughter itself. The engraved scenes reflect tavern life, theatrical tableaux, burlesque figures, and even mythological nods, offering a visual feast of period costume, grotesque physiognomies, and moral parody.

Apparent second edition of this collection of humorous tales, first printed in 1676. A charming and rare survival in its original decorative binding, exemplifying the crossover of scholarly satire and comic literature in the Dutch Golden Age.

Price: $800.00