Huygens’ debut in a collection from The Hague
Title page of Batava Tempe dat is 'tVoor-hout van 's Graven-Hage. Shelfmark: 2116 B 22
Constantijn Huygens (1597-1687) made his breakthrough as a poet in 1622 with two poems printed in Middelburg: Batava Tempe that is the Voor-hout of The Hague and Kepkypiaia ΜΣΤΙΞ that is the Costelick Mal.
Jacob Cats (1577-1660) arranges for both works to be printed by Hans van der Hellen for publisher Jan Pieterszoon van de Venne. Huygens is naturally delighted with this publication and certainly with the praise from Cats, who welcomes Huygens as 'a new Swan with extraordinary pens' (a new swan – poet – with special wings – writing pens –). Huygens' poetry sells briskly. A year later, there is already a reprint. Huygens is not pleased with this reprint. He was not consulted on it and had no opportunity to correct the numerous typographical errors, he writes to Cats. He calls the people who arranged this 'Ineptos homines' (improper people).
Otiorum libri sex
Portrait of Constantijn Huygens included in his Otiorum libri sex, 1625.
After his well-received debut, Huygens naturally continued writing poetry. In a letter dated November 8, 1623, he informs Cats that he is considering adding the new harvest to his already printed poems and publishing them. This becomes the collection *Otiorum libri sex* (Six Books of Idle Hours), which comes off the presses of The Hague printer Aert Meuris in 1625. In this, Huygens collects in six books: (book 1) his Latin poems, (book 2) his French and Italian poetry, (book 3) his Dutch-language religious poems, (book 4) his Voorhout and Costelick Mal, (book 5) his Dutch poems on Dutch cities and villages as well as his Printen (character sketches of all kinds of people), and (book 6) the remaining poems (Van Als).
Reprinting the reprint?
Naturally, Huygens also wants to include his works printed in Middelburg in the new collection. He wants to have them typeset again by Dutchmen 'who are at least in the vicinity' so that he himself can correct the typesetting where necessary. However, there is a problem: On July 22, 1622, the States General granted Jan Pieterszoon van de Venne a seven-year patent for Het costelijck mall en Het Haeghsche Voorhoudt van Constantin Huygens. This patent does not expire until 1629. Huygens asks Cats for advice in the aforementioned letter of November 8, 1623: Do you think that, if I wish to publish new poems simultaneously with those earlier ones, the privilege forbids the author from doing what a third party can achieve even without an agreement? (translation of Huygens' Latin).
Cats replies that this is indeed the case. The privilege granted to Van de Venne prohibits even the author from having his own poems reprinted by someone else.
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Huygens' handwritten title for book 4 of his Otiorum libri sex. Shelfmark: KA 40a 1622, fol. 2.
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Title page of Huygens's 'tCostelick Mal, 1622. Shelfmark: KW 2116 B 2
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Printed title for book 4 of Huygens's Otiorum libri sex, 1625. Shelfmark: KW 759 C 17
Huygens's dilemma
Based on the privilege, Van de Venne holds the exclusive right to have Huygens' successful Zeeland debut printed and published until 1629. Huygens does not want to wait that long. Naturally, the poems with which he made his breakthrough must also be included in the collection that presents him to the nation as a patriotic, diligent, talented, multilingual, and well-mannered young man. His collection is to serve as a portfolio supporting his application for a prestigious civil service position.
Huygens may not have had his own lines of poetry printed in Zeeland reprinted and published by a publisher other than Van de Venne. Nevertheless, he wants to include them in his Otiorum libri sex. He resolves this dilemma by purchasing copies of the Zeeland reprint from 1623 and inserting them as book 4 in his Hague collection. He replaces the original title pages with a self-designed title page. On this title page, he states: 'Alles vanden Zeewschen Druck ende mesdien onbeoversien, onverbettert'. Huygens thus protects himself against criticism by stating that these texts are from the Zeeland print. At the same time, he apologizes for the errors that remained. "I have not been able to review or correct these texts, which were printed entirely in Zeeland," he says. The Zeeland debut (without the original title pages) is immediately recognizable in the Hague collection. The Zeeland print is of better quality than the rest of the Hague volume: the paper is sturdier, the print is more beautiful, and the ink is better.
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Title page of the second Zeeland edition of Huygens's Voorhout. Shelfmark: KW GW A108.406 [3]
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Title page of the second Zeeland Edition of Huygens's 'tCostelick Mall, 1623. Shelfmark: KW GW A108.406 [4]
Rare
Because Huygens removed the title pages from almost the entire print run of the second Zeeland edition of his Voorhout and Costelick Mal, complete, intact copies are rare. In 1904, mention was made of a copy in the Utrecht University Library, and in 1969, Mrs. M.A. Schenkeveld-Van der Dussen described her copy in a scholarly journal. Meanwhile, the STCN mentions two more copies from 1623 of Batava Tempe and 't Costelick Mal in Amsterdam collections. A few copies can also be found in foreign library collections. Thanks to a fortunate purchase at an Amsterdam auction, the KB now also possesses a set of the complete reprint of Huygens' Zeeland debut.
