Item Details
Histoire Miraculeuse et Admirable de la Comtesse de Hornoc, Flamande, estranglée par le diable dans la ville d'Anvers, pour n'avoir trouvé son rabat bien godronné, le quiziesme avril 1616. Lyon.
Lyon [Ganz; Paris]: Libraire Ancienne et Moderne de Duquesne; Librairie Curieuse et Historique d'Aug, 1856 [1616]. Limited Edition. Original Wraps. Miraculous and admirable story of the Countess of Hornoc, Flemish, strangled by the devil in the city of Antwerp..."News-sheets, generally consisting of text alongside an engraving, were the ancestors of today’s true-crime magazines. The news-sheets’ heyday was the age of the witch hunt, from 1580 to 1640. They were a means of disseminating church thinking, wrapped up in the curiosities of daily urban life. They were read avidly by people who passed their content on to others, particularly when watching an execution, filling in the back story. They shaped public opinion by popularizing scholarly texts by preachers, demonologists and authors of tragic literature, another flourishing genre at the time, as will be seen below. One of the key themes of such news-sheets was the fear of women and their all-engulfing sexuality. The anonymous writers cleverly applied the church’s traditional anti-feminism in a familiar, accessible style. The sin of vanity was framed in episodes from real life in which female coquetry was harshly punished. Several variants on the same narrative, in 1582, 1604 and 1616, recounted the misadventures of a wealthy, coquettish young woman who hankers after a superb band or magnificent collar. Not finding any to her taste, she loses her temper, blasphemes, and promises to give herself to the Devil if he finds her what she wants. A suitor, or even the Devil himself, comes along, places the desired accoutrement round her neck, and strangles her. The 1616 version takes place in Antwerp, identifies the arrogant, impatient woman as the Comtesse de Hornoc, and adds that the Devil then vanished with a loud fart. The family hid the cause of her death, but at the funeral, the coffin was too heavy to be carried. When it was opened, a black cat jumped out."--online blog. Very Good+. Soiled, discolored wrappers (upper gutter), else tight, bright, and unmarred. 12mo. approx. 14pp. In edition of 150 copies. Item #11350
Price: $275.00