A seemingly inauspicious book consisting of four poetic works in Latin by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) has been discovered. [Westin Rar 417]
Two of the four works have not previously been recorded in bibliographies and a third only partially. They are therefore unique, a fact which caused quite a stir in the Netherlands, Grotius' own country.
The wedding texts, the first three works, were printed in Hague in 1603 whilst the fourth, "Pontifex Romanus", was probably printed in Leiden in 1598 and is a work by Grotius that was well known prior to this discovery. It contains ”monologues” aimed at a number of secular and eccleciastical potentates and the States-General of the Netherlands, i.e. the Dutch parliament.
The book has been digitalised. See the title pages.
Bibliographic references
- Grotius, Hugo: Batavia, sive Epithalamion Cornelio Mylio & Mariæ Oldenbarneveldiæ dictum, Hague, 1603.
- Grotius, Hugo: Epithalamion viri clarissimi, amplissimíque Casparis Kinschotii, & [...] Mariæ de Chantraines dictæ Brovxavx, Hague, 1603.
- Grotius, Hugo: Carmen in domumductionem nobilissimæ lectissimæque Mariæ van der Duyn viro prelvstri Reginaldo Brederodio [...] noviter nvptæ, Hague 1603.
- Grotius, Hugo: Pontifex Romanvs [...], Leiden, 1598.
- The National Library of the Netherlands in Hague has incorporated a description of these poetic works in the Dutch national bibliography Short Title Catalogue Netherlands.
- Further information on Grotius in his capacity as a pioneer of modern international law can be found in Hugo Grotius Mare Liberum 1609-2009: original Latin text (facsimile of the first edition, 1609) and Modern English translation, edited and annotated by Robert Feenstra; with a general introduction by Jeroen Vervliet, printed in Leiden in 2009.
- Grotius' principal work on international law De iure belli ac pacis (Paris, 1625) is also available in its first edition at the Library and can be ordered using Catalogue 1962. This work can also be read in the rich French digitised collection Gallica.
