Alexis ou de l’age d’or … Riga 1787

Alexis ou de l’age d’or … — Riga, Hartknoch, 1787

First edition

8vo (leaves are 177 x 103 mm). A-M8, M2 is a cancel, M7-8 are blanks, bound in after M6 is the folding plate: 188 p., 1 folded plate, 2 blanks. Contemporary green morocco tooled in gilt by Thomas van Os; joints slightly rubbed. Our copy is bigger that the three copies described by Stoddard no. 11 (in: The Book Collector vol. 50/2). 450 copies were printed.

Binding: See, J. St. van Leuwen, Frans Hemsterhuis‘ binders … (same issue of The Book Collector …, pp. 202ff): „In the last quarter of the eighteenth century Thomas van Os was without any doubt the best binder in The Hague and probably in the whole of the Netherlands. His most beautiful bindings, like some for Hemsterhuis, have a frame of lacework on the covers with an undulating contour, which consists of arcs in different sizes, small leaves, fruits, birds and insects in a composition that is only symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal axes of the covers and is sometimes even totally asymmetrical. Thus van Os was the only Dutch binder of his time to translate the asymmetry of Rococco in terms of gold tooling. His technique stands the comparison with that of the best binders …“ The bindings known to be made by van Os between 1778 and 1790 are all, except one, bound for Hemsterhuis. The little stamps on both covers of our binding show a dragonfly, and bird. 

See also J. Storm van Leuwen, The Hague bookbindings of the 18th century … page 416, nos. 2 and 3, and for the spine nos. 24, and 34. Van Sluis, Kringen rondom F. Hemsterhuis, p. 81f., shows the recipients of a copy in green morocco.

“In Alexis Hemsterhuis, perhaps influenced by contemporary German philosophy, presented for the first time his concept of the golden age and the harmonious development of the individual. He also introduced the notion of the value of poetical truth (truth discovered by the poet in moments of enthusiasm). With these ideas Hemsterhuis had moved far from his earlier rationalism, and his thought was received with admiration and approval by representatives of the Sturm und Drang and romantic movements in philosophy.“ (Edwards, The Encyclopedia of Philosophy III, p.475)