= With dedication by the translator: 'To Charles L. Turreill from Leonard C. van Noppen, The Hague, Oct. 25/'19". Fine copy, but plate on frontcover with some surface-damage. Joost van den Vondel’s Lucifer (1654) is a Dutch Baroque tragedy that dramatizes the biblical rebellion of the angels, inspired by passages from Genesis, Isaiah, and Revelation, as well as Milton’s later Paradise Lost (though Vondel’s came first). The play opens in Heaven, where God has created Earth and appointed the newly formed human race to inherit Paradise. Lucifer, the proud and ambitious archangel, feels slighted by this favor shown to humans, whom he considers far inferior to angels. When God commands the angels to serve mankind, Lucifer interprets it as humiliation and a threat to his dignity. He begins to stir discontent among his peers, especially Belzebub, plotting open resistance against God’s decree. Gabriel and Raphael try to reason with him, urging submission and reminding him of the dangers of pride, but Lucifer’s resentment hardens into defiance. As tensions escalate, factions form among the angels-one loyal to God, the other to Lucifer. Ultimately, Lucifer leads a rebellion, but the loyal angels, led by Michael, crush the insurrection. The rebels are cast out of Heaven into Hell, transforming Lucifer into Satan. The tragedy ends with a somber reflection on pride’s destructive power, the irrevocable loss of Heaven, and the cosmic consequences of rebellion. It was controversial in Vondel’s time-some church leaders worried it could be read as sympathizing with Lucifer-because of its psychologically complex portrayal of him as a tragic, almost heroic figure undone by ambition.