RESERVED

Johanna Koerten (1650-1715).

Het stamboek op de papiere snykunst van mejuffrouw Joanna Koerten, huisvrouw van den heere Adriaan Blok. Bestaande in Latynsche en Nederduitsche gedichten der voornaamste dichters.

Amsterdam, Voor Rekening van de Compagnie, 1735.

8°. [8], 231 pp. With an engraved frontispiece portrait of Johanna Koerten and title-vignette, both by Jan Punt (1711-1779) and dated 1734.

Contemporary calf with gold-tooled spine and marbled sides.

Scarce pirated edition of the printed album amicorum of celebrated Amsterdam paper-cutting artist Joanna Koerten, containing 117 laudatory contributions by prominent figures—including several notable women such as poet and publisher Katharina Lescailje, naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian, poet Gesina Brit, and fellow paper-cutter Elizabeth Crama. This edition was published one year prior to the (also very rare) authorized version, titled Gedichten op de overheerlyke papiere snykunst van wyle mejuffrouwe Joanna Koerten (Amsterdam, S. van Esveldt, 1736). Koerten’s original album amicorum was dispersed as single sheets in 1765, and many are now lost.

Her reputation in the Dutch Republic and beyond was extraordinary. Koerten’s technically virtuosic paper-cuttings—often depicting allegorical, historical, or royal subjects—attracted admirers ranging from local dignitaries to Tsar Peter the Great. Compiled posthumously by her husband, Adriaan Blok, the volume preserves decades of autographs, poetry, and critical responses gathered from visitors to the couple’s home, known as a cultural salon where Koerten’s cuttings were displayed. The inclusion of works by leading poets and scholars, along with high-quality engravings by Jan Punt, situates the Stamboek at the intersection of literary culture, visual art, and private memorial. It not only testifies to Koerten’s critical reception but also highlights her role in advancing recognition for women in the arts. The presence of the above-mentioned women contributors underscores both Koerten’s cultural stature and the Stamboek’s value as a rare early printed forum for women’s intellectual and artistic expression in the eighteenth century.

Condition: Binding a little worn at the joint and corners, lacks first free endpaper, otherwise in very good, original condition.

Literature:

Peacock, Martha Moffitt. “Paper as Power: Carving a Niche for the Female Artist in the Work of Joanna Koerten.” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek (NKJ) / Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art, vol. 62, 2012, pp. 238–65.