Advertissement, omme den, heuversten, ghesworene ouderlynghen, ende ghemeende supposten vande neerynghe vande vry-schiplieden der stede van Ghendt, heesschers, jeghens d'onvry schippers aldaer, verweerders, in materie van revisie.

4to, [2-174] pp., 1 folding pl. (1st lvs soiled).

Bound, cover of marbled paper (us.).

Extremely rare copy, not on STCV (Short Title Catalogus Vlaanderen), of a legal publication by I. vander Beke, concerning the "Vrije Schippers" (Free Bargemen) and "Onvrije Schippers" in Ghent. The first had free access to the Ghent waterways, while the second were employed and had to transfer their cargo at the city border. Includes a rare map of the Scheldt estuary from Ijzendijke to Zandvliet with the surrounding Meetjesland and Waasland and its rivers and channels (Durme, Sassevaart, Dender, Rupel, Zuidlede, Stekense Vaart, Parmavaart). During the Siege of Antwerp in the winter of 1584-1585, Alexander Farnese, duke of Parma, had the "Parmavaart" dug to connect Fort Sint-Jan (Kemzeke) and Fort De Perel (Kallo) to Ghent by water. Visually, the map resembles other contemporary or earlier maps by Lieven van Thuyne and Horenbault. The scale indicates "schale van 2100 roen sijnde een vlaemsche myle en alf", which - according to F.C. van der Poorten's manual for land surveyors of the Brugse Vrije from 1724 - was used by Ghent land surveyors.
Ref. Première (Seconde) partie du catalogue des livres [...] de la bibliothèque de ... Pierre-Philippe-Constant Lammens [...]. Ghent, s.n., 1839, n. 1003. - De Potter, F. Gent, van den oudsten tijd tot heden. Vol. 3, pp. 26, 56. - Tweede Deel Van Den Derden Placcaet-Boeck. Ghent, J. vanden Kerchove, 1685, pp. 661-662. - Rijksarchief te Brugge. Brugse Vrije. Reg. no 16045, fo2vo. Biekorf 70 (1969), p. 54.