Christelijcke gebeden ende danck-seggingen, op 't nieuw tegen 't Hoogh-Duytsche oversien ende ten dienste der gereformeerde kercke verbetert.Leeuwarden, Lodewijck Cres, 1661. Small 16mo in 8s (10 x 7.5 x 2 cm). Contemporary gold-tooled green parchment with an (impressed?) pebble grain (giving a sort of reptile skin pattern), sewn on 3 green parchment tapes, laced through the joints, bound for the Frisian noble families Van Harinxma thoe Slooten and Burmania, with 2 silver fastenings.

275, [8], [1 blank] pp.Unrecorded Leeuwarden edition of an influential Christian prayer book, written by the German Lutheran theologian Johann Habermann (or Haverman, also known as Johannes Avenarius, 1516-1590). It was edited and translated into Dutch in 1573 from the German Christliche Gebet für alle Not und Stende der gantzen Christenheit (first edition 1567), but in 1634 Hendrik van Diest (1595-1673), a preacher and professor of theology in Harderwijk (later also Deventer) revised the Dutch translation based on the original German and had it published in a 32mo edition by Jan Evertsz Cloppenburgh in Amsterdam, advertised in Jan van Hilten’s Courante uyt Italien ene Duytschlandt, &c., 1634, no. 43 (28 October 1634): “By Jan E. Cloppenburgh is gedruckt in 32 Johan Habermans Ghebeden, na het Hooghduytsche ende voor de Ghereformeerde Religie ghecorrigeert”. Many editions of Van Diest’s revision, including the present, incorporate the author’s name into the title: Johan Havermans Christelijcke Gebeden ....The STCN records eleven 17th-century Dutch editions, most published in Amsterdam, besides twelve 18th-century editions with various imprints. All editions are extremely rare on the market: for many editions the STCN records only one copy, and the present one appears to be wholly unrecorded.The Harinxma and Burmania coats of arms, on the front and back boards respectively, were linked already before the book was published in 1661: Pieter van Harinxma thoe Slooten (1610-1669), councillor to the court of Friesland (Frisia) at Leeuwarden from 1641 to his death, married Susanna Idzertsdr van Burmania (1629-1691) in 1648, so the prayer book was probably bound for them before his death in 1669. Many members of the Van Harinxma thoe Slooten family held important administrative functions in Frisia: mayor, member of the Frisian Provincial States, judge, lawyer or king’s commissioner. A 3-line manuscript inscription in brown ink on the first free endleaf is partly overwritten with pen trials, but appears to be similar to an 11-line note in the same hand on the unprinted verso of the last printed leaf S6: they are personal notes addressed to family members, (the latter to “Leske”?) and referring to an unnamed father, mother, sisters and brothers, also to Bodendal (Bodetal in Germany?). The last 2 leaves (S7 & 8, apparently blank) are lacking and the foot (2 cm) of the free endleaf at the front has been torn away. The tooling on the binding has lost most of its gold, but the impressions of the tools remain clear. On each board, one cornerpiece is slightly cruder in its execution than the other three, but if these two were replaced it was probably at an early date (perhaps the master silversmith simply let his apprentice make two of the eight). Edges of some leaves very slightly browned, but the book and binding are in good condition overall. An unrecorded edition of a popular prayer book and one of the extremely rare early editions of Hendrik van Diest’s revised Dutch translation, luxuriously bound in gold-tooled green parchment with silverwork, for the councillor to the court of Friesland and his wife, with their coats of arms.l Cf. STCN (other eds., incl. 1640, 1650 and undated Cloppenburgh, but no Leeuwarden ed. until 1742); WorldCat (other eds. incl. 1640 and undated Cloppenburgh); for the Harinxma and Burmania arms: Rietstap; www.walmar.nl/wapens.asp.