4to. (LIV),288 p., frontispiece, portrait and 12 plates. Half calf. 23 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 189763396)(Details: Back with 5 raised bands, and divided by gilt double fillets. The nice allegoric frontispiece was designed by Jan Wandelaar and engraved by Simon Fokke, it depicts Abraham together with Fides (True Faith) before an altar on which a goat is being burned; Fides' offer helps Abraham to conquer Vice; Obedience, depicted as a yoked woman (who else?), binds wings to Abraham's feet, to help him accept the yoke of Virtue; Abraham holds with his right hand 3 chained figures, Instability, Idolatry and Vanity. § Title printed in red and black. Engraved printer's mark on the title depicting Athena, who rests on a pile of books; at her feet a putto reading a book.The portrait of Arnold Hoogvliet, dated 1745, is made after a lost painting of the Dutch artist Dionys van Nijmegen, and is executed by J. Houbraken. Preceding each of the 12 books is a beautiful engraving of a biblical scene from the life of Abraham, made and executed by Jan Punt. The engravings are dated 1743/45; the margins of the gatherings are uncut) (Condition: Binding worn, especially at the extremes. Shield of the second compartment on the back gone, leaving a small hole. Wear to the paper on both boards. Front pastedown detached. Hinges cracked, but strong. Some faint and small waterstains in the lower margin of the last 50 pages. Some pinpoint worming in the blank lower margin of the last 50 pages, never reaching the text) (Note: The Dutch author Arnold Hoogvliet, 1687-1763, is among Dutch classicists known for his translation of Ovid's Fasti, which was published in 1719. This translation was greeted with enthousiasm by his contemporaries. After this success he had to promise his dying father, that he would, after this work full of heathen worship, write a work full of christian virtues. The execution of this promise, 'Abraham, de Aartsvader', an epic poem on the arch father Abraham in 12 books, written in rhyming iambic trimeters, was first published in 1728, and made his name. It is considered to be the greatest epic of 18th century Dutch literature. It was reissued in the 18th century 13 times. Hoogvliet was considered one of the great Dutch poets of his age. (Van der Aa, 8,2 p. 1175/9; more up to date: literatuurgeschiedenis.nl/lg/18de/auteurs/lg18049.html) This book on offer was originally a kind of 'de luxe edition', it is printed on thick paper and offers works of the best artists and engravers of the time, a beautiful frontispiece by Jan Wandelaar and Simon Fokke, a nice portrait of the author engraved by J. Houbraken , and 12 fine engravings, drawn and executed by the well known Dutch painter and engraver Jan Punt, 1711-1779) (Collation: (*)4 (*1 plus pi1, the frontispiece) 2*-5*4, 6*4 (minus leaf 6*4, a blank), 7*4; A-2N4) (Photographs on request)