Second edition of a rare collection of erotic and autobiographical poetry by François Le Bleu (ca. 1620-1655), written while he was a student at Leiden University. First published in 1642, probably at the author's own expense, the work relates the love of Thyrsis, representing Le Bleu himself, for the Leiden girl Amaril. The two parts (Minnevlam and Mengel-dichten), written in a wide variety of poetic forms, include songs, sonnets, dialogues, mythological poems, elegies and a series of ten basia or kisses. The latter were inspired by the Neo-Latin poet Janus Secundus (1510-1536), whose Basia had become an important model for erotic poetry in the Netherlands.
The poems follow Le Bleu's relationship with Amaril from their courtship to her death, giving the collection an unusually autobiographical character. His poems on her death are followed by several prose reflections, curiously dedicated to Cassandra, his new love. In them, Le Bleu argues that his lasting devotion to Amaril should assure Cassandra that he will be equally faithful to her. Together with the many erotic passages, the poems provide an interesting glimpse into student life in seventeenth-century Leiden.
The work was dedicated to Constantijn Huygens, secretary to Stadtholder Frederick Henry, and the poet and statesman Jacob Cats, but neither appears to have been particularly impressed by Le Bleu's poetry. He published no further collections of poetry.
With an older bookseller's description mounted on the front pastedown. The vellum is somewhat soiled. The ownership annotation on the title page has been erased, the leaves are somewhat browned. Otherwise in good condition. NNBW, III, col. 120; cf. Poorteman & Smits-Veldt, Een nieuw vaderland voor de muzen (2008), 432; R. Schenkeveld-Van der Dussen, De Minne-vlam (1642) van François Le Bleu: een verslag van een verkenning, in: Tijdschr. voor Ned. Taal- en Letterkunde, 138, 1 (2022), pp. 1-32.