Vervolgsde Laura ("Persecuted Laura") by Adam Karelsz (1679)

This 1679 edition of Vervolgsde Laura ("Persecuted Laura") by Adam Karelsz. van Zjermez is notable for its literary origins, printing history, and rich documentation:

Dutch Golden Age Popular Drama: Translated from Spanish drama, this play was performed at the famous Schouwburg van Van Campen (Amsterdam’s first city theater). Published by Michiel de Groot on the Nieuwendijk in 1679 as the "fourth printing, revised and corrected," its frequent reprinting demonstrates the 17th-century public's appetite for theatrical thrillers.

Pseudonym & True Authorship: While credited on the title page to "Adam Karels van Zjermez," the handwritten note on the invoice identifies the actual author/translator as Frederik van den Brande (who used "Adam Karelsz. van Zjermez" as an anagrammatic pseudonym).

Pretoria Academic Provenance: The included 1964 invoice shows that this exact copy was purchased by Professor Adrianus van Selms (1906–1984), a renowned Dutch-born professor of Semitic languages and Biblical studies at the University of Pretoria.

Famous Bookseller Invoice: The invoice comes from Frits A. M. Knuf, a famous antiquarian bookseller based on the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat in Amsterdam, bought for 10 Dutch guilders in January 1964.

90mm x 140mm x 10mm

80 pages, title page to page 80 only. If there are other pages, consider these to now be lacking. Sold with all faults.

R1,250