WITGEEST, Simon [= Willem GOEREE?].
Het nieuw vermeerdert natuerlyck Tover-Boeck of Speel-Toneel der konsten. Bevattende aenstrent 2000 naturelycke Toover-konsten en potsen, soo uyt de Goochel-tas als kaert-spel en terelingh: van de mathesis, van schryven, inckten, verven, schilderen, vergulden, verlacken, ..., als mede allen slagh van vuurwercken ... Den X. druck.
Amsterdam, Jan ten Hoorn (sold by Emanuel de Grieck, Brussels), 1715. 8vo. Title-page in red and black, with an engraved frontispiece containing 5 compartments showing tricks by Harrewijn after the frontispieces in the original editions by Jan van Hoorn in Amsterdam, 57 charming woodcuts illustrating the various tricks in the text (7 full-page in the last section on fireworks). Contemporary vellum, blind-tooled with a centrepiece on both sides. [10], 518, [40] pp.
€ 1,500
The 1715 edition (nominally the 10th but (possibly the 11th) of a very popular Dutch conjuring book that had been published for the first time by Jan ten Hoorn in Amsterdam in 1679 and frequently augmented in many, editions far into the 18th century. The present edition mentions 2000 tricks (tover-konsten), instead of the 500 in the 3rd edition. The book was also translated into German.
The Tover-boek contains sections on magic tricks, card-games, dice, word and number games, riddles and recipes and instructions for painting and etching, as well as home remedies and recipes for preserving fruits and vegetables, toiletries, fireworks, etc., collected from various sources. The section on drawing and colouring, for instance is taken from Willem Goerees Inleydinge tot de algemeene teyken-kons, published in 1678.
With the owner's inscription of J. Ravelli on the last endpaper. Binding slightly soiled as are the first leaves, otherwise in very good condition. John Landwehr, "Simon Witgeests Natuurlyk tover-boek et alia", in: Volkskunde, 68 (1967), pp. 67-82; Hoogendoorn, Witg. 11 (p. 993).
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