After the success of his edifying work Ydelheyt des werelts (Vanity of the world), Antwerp, 1645, the Jesuit father Adriaen Poirters (1605-1674) decided to publish an enlarged version, which is this one. This enlarged book first appeared in 1646 in 4to. The 17 engravings by Philip de Mallery, taken from the Amoris divini et humani effectus, Antwerp, 1626, were replaced by a greater number of engravings by F. Bouttats. The engravings were newly made for this edition.

This book, the author’s most important work, enumerates the failings of the world. It lived through more than 30 editions. The last ones, in the 19th century, appeared at the Gand publisher of popular books Snoeck-Ducaju. Several of them appeared as '13th edition'.

This edition follows the contents of nr. 651 in Landwehr’s Emblem and fable book (1988), but it does not have the year 1676 on the engraved title page. It is almost identical with the Philips van Eijck edition of 1662 ('Den 8 druck'), decribed in De Vries, Nederlandsche Emblemata no. 188. The page numbers 239/40 are used twice.

Adrianus Poirters (1605-1674) was a Jesuit from the southern Netherlands, a teacher, contra-reformed poet and prose writer, who because of his moralizing was sometimes called the catholic equivalent of the Dutch poet Jacob Cats.

STCN gives 2 editions, with the indication “12th impression”, without year. Our copy follows record 186495978, of which 2 copies in STCN (Tilburg and Utrecht), datation 2nd half 17th century.

- Provenance:
1) Label of “Seminari Culemburgensis S. J.” on upper paste down.
2) Booksellers label of “Pampiere Wereld” Amsterdam on upper paste down.
3) Very small handwriting in brown ink: “Ex libris A: Hoelen.”
4) Purple stamp “Bibl.Res. S.J. / Ultraiect.”, with handwritten number “Q.VI 29a” and “W2” at first fly leaf.