Occasio arrepta. Neglecta. Huius commoda: illius incommoda. (Second title:) Occasio. Drama. 2 parts in 1 vol.

Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus, 1605. With engr. title, 12 full-page etchings by Theodoor Galle, engr. printer's device on second title (p. 271), woodcut printer's device at end. 8 leaves, 307, (1) pp., 13 leaves index (lacking last blank). Small 4to. Mottled calf in contemp. style (new endpapers). In slipcase. Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus, 1605. First edition. A moralistic emblem book on opportunity and neglected opportunity, followed by a drama embodying the author's precepts. Johannes David (1545-1613) was principal of Jesuit schools at Courtrai and Ghent. The fine illustrations are by Theodoor Galle (1571-1633), from a renowned Antwerp family of engravers, who was closely associated to the Plantin Press. Each of the finely executed emblems shows the goddess Opportunity (Occasio), her long hair covering her face, while the back of her head is bald: you have to seize her when she comes towards you, once she is passed, there is no way of getting hold of her. Part II (pp. 271-307), with separate title, is a drama on the same theme, with two groups of young men, five wise (prudentes), and five unwise (imprudentes). "Via the Jesuits, the Council of Trent's teaching on images reached emblem theory. Emblems, for the Jesuits, are in any case part of a much broader strategy. A strikingly beautiful example of this, albeit one taken from emblematic practice, is Johannes David's Occasio arrepta ... The 'picturae' not only make up a curious emblematic allegorical chain, in which, as in modern comics, words are put into character's mouths by means of captions; they also function as illustrations of a drama that is added to the volume. Emblem and theatre, the two major methods of Jesuit missionary work, cooperate here" (Karel Porteman, Emblem Theory and Cultural Specificity, p. 11, in: Aspects of Renaissance and Baroque Symbol Theory, ed. by Daly and Manning). - Small worm track in the last quarter, some very light browning; a nice copy. - Praz, Studies in 17th cent. Imagery, vol. I, p. 180 and vol. II, p. 45-46; Landwehr, Dutch Emblem Books, 54; Landwehr, Emblem and Fable Books printed in the Low Countries 1542-1813, 186; Landwehr, Emblem Books in the Low Countries 1554-1949, 133; De Backer-Sommervogel II, 1847, no. 7; Brunet II, 536 ("Ces ... ouvrages de J. David sont recherchés à cause des gravures de Th. Galle dont ils sont ornés"); Heckscher/Sherman, Emblem Books in the Princeton Univ. Library, 267. EMBLEM BOOKS ;