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Bekker, Balthasar (1634-1698) Ondersoek van de Betekeninge der Kometen.
Leeuwarden: Hero Nauta, 1683.
First edition, octavo, a work on comets, bound in full contemporary blind ruled and tooled Dutch parchment over boards, nicely preserved, 6 1/8 x 3 3/4 in.
Bekker's work on comets came out after he found his congregation panicking over a series of the celestial appearances in the night sky over the Netherlands between 1680 and 1682. Looking to quell a superstitious wave building in the town, he offered this more sober interpretation of the phenomena. He reminds his parishioners that the Bible explicitly states that comets are not portents of doom sent by God to frighten believers into repentance. Bekker was a supporter of Descartes and is also known for his work opposing the persecution of supposed witches, De Betoverde Weereld, published in 1691, and translated into English as The World Bewitched in 1695.
