[Hugo Grotius] Drie boecken van Hugo de Groot, nopende het recht des oorloghs

ende des vredes. In dewelcke het recht der natuere, der volkeren, mitsgaders de principaelste stucken van 't burgerlijcke recht verklaert werden. Eerst in 't Latijn uyt-gegeven, ende nu (...) in 't Neder duyts vertaelt door H.V. Haarlem, A. Roman, 1635, (28),401[= 421],(23) p., with fine woodcut portrait of the author on verso title p., contemp. overlapping vellum w. manuscript title on spine, sm. 4to.

A very fine copy with bookplate of S.L. Keijzer ("hou' koers") on first free endpaper and traces of removed bookplate on upper pastedown. Ter Meulen & Diermanse, B.G., no. 620; for the portrait, see Beresteyn no. 9b.The very, if not extremely rare first complete Dutch translation of "De iure belli ac pacis" (1625), hardly ever offered for sale. The work is a fundamental classic on international law, "the first attempt to lay down a principle of right, and a basis for society and government, outside Church or Scripture." (PMM, 125). A fragmentary earlier Dutch edition appeared in 1626. Added: a modern work on the "voorrede tot de drie boeken over het recht van oorlog en vrede" (The Hague, 1952). (total 2)