Het toonneel oft spiegel des aerdt-bodems,

waer in te sien is een breede verhalinghe van des menschen catyuicheyt. Ghemaeckt int Latijn door P. Boaystuau alias Launay, nu eerst wt de Latynsch ende Fransoysche tale over gheset door Theodorum Kemp in onse Nederl. sprake. Met een corte verclaringhe vande subtylheyt ende weerdicheyt des mensche. Amsterdam, printed in Leiden by H.L. van Haestens for Z. Heyns, 1599, (156) leaves, contemporary turned vellum, 12mo.

First quire tender and partly with reinforcements in foot margin; lacks top endpapers and splits and spine loose from bookblock. Very rare, 3 copies in PiCarta. Moreover, our copy is a variant without engraved title vignette of the KB copy digitised online. The copy at the UB Leiden, too, has the title engraving. Contemporary owner's mark in pen: "Det boeck hoort (...) Jan Thomase van Bruijnst (?)". Breugelmans, Leiden Imprints, p. 16; Doukas, Pierre Boaistuau, p. 167-194; Machiels B-750 (first edition); Moes/Burger IV p. 216/17. Rare second Dutch edition (first: 1576) of Boaistuau's famous and celebrated Le théâtre du monde. Influenced by Augustine's City of God, the work analyses the suffering (diseases, poverty, hunger, everlasting wars of the 16th century) of human life, with the theatre serving as a metaphor. Boaistuau argued that this suffering could only be prompted by the wrath of God and therefore criticised the corruption and decadence of mankind.