HEINSIUS, Daniel.

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De contemptu mortis libri IV. First edition of the noted Dutch scholar Daniel Heinsius's (1580-1655) last major work of poetry, a didactic espousal of a stoical contempt for, rather than fear of, death. Willems writes that in its time the poem enjoyed a great vogue, and it was translated into Dutch by Jacques van Zevecote. A classical scholar of great renown (he was a professor at Leiden University), Heinsius also worked on the text of the Elzevirs' edition of the Greek New Testament, published a few years later. This volume is from the Elzevirian collection of the polymath Edward Heron-Allen, with his bookplate to the front free endpaper. Heron-Allen is best remembered for his translation of the works of Omar Khayyam, a much more literal rendering than Edward Fitzgerald's great, yet loose, translation.

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