SKEEL, BERTE - BRINK, IVER

Guds-Børns Salighed i Døden, og dennes Vished og Beskaffenhed i Evigheden, Efter Begiæring forestillet (..) Udi Dend Høj-og Velbaarne, nu hos Gud salige Frues Frue Berte Scheel til Selsøe. Dend Høj- og Velbaarne nu Salige Herres Herr Niels Rosenkrantz Hans Højt-Elskelige Enke Frues Christelige og Høj-Adelige Liig-Begiængelse udi St Nicolai Kirke her i Staden dend 10. Julii 1720.

København, P.J. Phoenixberg, 1720.

Folio (370 x 255 mm). In contemporary full black velvet binding with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. The raised bands with a bit of wear, but otherwise a very nice and clean copy. Printed on good heavy paper. (56), 370, (66) pp. Wanting the portrait. 

First edition of this very beautifully adorned funeral sermon for Berte Skeel (1644-1720), a fine example from the golden age of this particular historical genre in Denmark.

“Printed funeral sermons grew in popularity in the seventeenth century; between 100 and 200 had been printed by 1647, with only 20 known to have been printed in the Elizabethan era. Their output increased from then until the turn of the eighteenth century. Funeral sermons were usually printed singly, although in 1647 a collection of 47 funeral sermons by eminent preachers was printed, entitled Threnoikos: The House of Mourning , demonstrating the popular place of the funeral sermon in the seventeenth century as a guide to leading an exemplary life, preparing for death, meditating on the next life, and responding to the death of loved ones.6 Funeral sermons thus held an important place in the memento mori tradition, and equally in the literature of exemplary reading for women. A higher proportion of funeral sermons for women were reprinted than those for men, making these interesting sources of conceptions of female piety.” (Molekamp, Femke. “Seventeenth-Century Funeral Sermons and Exemplary Female Devotion: Gendered Spaces and Histories.”)

Provenance: From the library of Valdemar’s Castle.

Order-nr.: 62082