First edition of the first extensive history of the duchy of Gelre (present day Gelderland) in the Netherlands, beautifully illustrated with large maps and plans. The work consists of fourteen books. The first contains a historical-topographical description of the region, while the other thirteen tell the history of Gelre in chronological order from the time of the Batavi until 1581, when the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration) was signed. The maps shows various parts of Gelre in detail, and the plans depict the four main towns: Nijmegen, Arnhem, Zutphen, and Harderwijk.
Johannes Isaac Pontanus (1571-1639), a historian and medical doctor from Harderwijk, was commissioned to write the history of Gelre in 1621. The local government, het Hof van Gelre and Zutphen, had already asked for this history in 1597, but the other historians they had commissioned, Paulus Merula (1558-1607) and Johannes Lontius (?-1621), had both passed away before they were able to complete the work. Pontanus used their notes for his history, together with various other manuscripts, and finished it shortly before his own death. The work was translated into Dutch by Arend van Slichtenhorst in 1653, using the same maps and plans, but in a reduced size.
With a later manuscript index on the second free flyleaf, and a contemporary inscription on the back pastedown. The edges and corners of the boards are slightly scuffed, the vellum is slightly rubbed, with a brown ink stain on the front. The work is lightly browned and (finger) soiled throughout, with an occasional small tear of water stain in the margins. Otherwise in good condition. Bodel Nijenhuis 581; Nijhoff-Van Hattum 254; STCN 830964118 (22 copies, of which 5 incomplete); Wittop Koning, p.78.