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During my work as a curator of Early Printed editions at the KB Netherlands, I found some incunabula with traces of identical heavy use. I was intrigued and decided to do some research on this group of KB-incunabula. They hold manuscript notes, sometimes unsigned or with initials P.V.M., but on other occasions we can find a name: Pieter vander Meersche. He was a Leiden bookseller of whom 57 books could be found, published between 1667 and 1712. Besides that, he held auctions, from 1669 to 1720 about 50. He was an active member of the Leiden booksellers guild, often on the Board of it. And he must have had an interesting library. To date, I have found 23 books that once belonged to him: 8 medieval manuscripts and 1 from a later date, 12 incunabula (of which 9 from the KB, the national library of The Netherlands) and 4 later books. The KB-incunabula are described in MEI.

Evidenced by the use of his incunabula, Vander Meersche can be thought to be a remarkable collector. He considered the books in his collection as books to use, and so he did. For example, he embellished them with contemporary engravings.

Left: Eighteenth-century engravings pasted in: Jacobus de Voragine. Legenda aurea sanctorum, sive Lombardica historia. Gouda, Gerard Leeu, 1478, front endleaves, fol. [4]v-[5]r. The Hague, KW KB, 170 E 17.
Right: Eighteenth-century engravings pasted in. Breviarium Windeshemense. Schoonhoven, [Canonici Regulares apud S. Michaelem in Den Hem], ca. 1 February 1499. The Hague, KB, KW 234 F 25.

He also wrote elaborate notes about the contents of the books or added little poems. One of these seems to have been his motto, since it occurs several times: ‘Doet het beste: denkt opt leste: Na veel lijden, groot verblijden’ [Do the best: think at the end: After much suffering comes much happiness].

Vander Meersche’s motto on the titlepage of Jacobus de Voragine.
Legenda aurea sanctorum, sive Lombardica historia. Winterstuc. Gouda, Gerard Leeu, 1478, The Hague, KB, KW 1084 A 9.

And Vander Meersche seems to have been a book historian avant la lettre. He studied his early books and makes remarks about for example the absence of the author’s name or title, or about the manner of printing: “De roode letteren sijn met de pen geschreven: de kunst van root en swart te drukken, was toen noch niet gevonden” [The red letters are written with a pen; people could not yet print in red and black at one time].

Left: Explantion that the red initials are written with a pen. Breviarium Windeshemense. Schoonhoven, [Canonici Regulares apud S. Michaelem in Den Hem], ca. 1 February 1499, fol. 6r. The Hague, KB, KW 234 F 25.
Right: ‘Sonder naem van den autheur’ [without name of the author] on the title page of Van die gheestlike kintscheyt ihesu ghemoraliseeret. Antwerp, Gerard Leeu, 16 February 1488. The Hague, KB, KW 150 F 10.

Vander Meersche had inherited his library and expanded it during his life. From notes in some of his books can be derived that he must have had at least 74 books in quarto, 285 in octavo and 23 in duodecimo – so far more than the 23 books I found that once belonged to him. He was very devoted to his library and wanted it to survive as a collection after his death. Together with his wife he went to the notary twice to make a will, in which was stated that he wanted his library to be kept together. From the educational notes one could think that he hoped that it would be a reference and study collection for people from the book trade to learn about books. Sadly enough, this did not happen.

Advertisement for his auction catalogue in: Leydse Courant, 1724, nr. 56, 10 May

After his death, the books were sold as can be seen from this advertisement in the Leydse Courant. An auction catalogue has not survived and the books are dispersed. Maybe you recognise the usage or the handwriting in books in your library. If so, please let me know.

Dr. Marieke van Delft, curator of Early Printed Editions, KB, National Library of The Netherlands, marieke.vandelft@kb.nl

Literature: Marieke van Delft, ‘Een Leidse boekhandelaar en zijn bibliotheek rond 1700: Pieter vander Meersche’, in: Idem, Van wiegendruk tot world wide web. Bijzondere collecties en de vele geschiedenissen van het gedrukte boek.  Zutphen 2015, p. 73-104.