AGREABILIS, Jodocus [pseudonym]. Die Contrerevoluzion in einem scherzhaften Scherz-Gedichte in extrafeinen Knittel-Versen gesungen von M. Jodocus Agreabilis P. L. und p. t. Schulmeister zu Freihausen [caption title]. [Colophon:] Gedrukt mit Freiheits-Schriften im vierten Jahre der Freiheit [i.e. 1796].
Small 8vo (173 x 103 mm), pp. 16; a little brown-spotted, the first leaf with two small holes, resulting in the loss of three letters; contemporary mss. ownership inscription on first leaf; bound in modern red boards.
Extremely rare first edition of this satirical poem against reactionary forces after the Mainz Republic had been crushed by Prussian troops.In September 1792 the first war of the anti-revolutionary coalition ended with French victory, and French occupation of the Palatinate and other German provinces West of the Rhine. In Mainz 20 radicals including Georg Forster and the former chief police officer of Mainz founded the local Jacobin Club and a Republic based on the ideals of the French Revolution, which was enthusiastically supported by the majority of the population. On July 23 of the following year the last city of that Republic capitulated and was occupied by the reactionary forces and the usual prosecutions, incarcerations and the seizing of the Jacobins's property ensued.
The author describes in strong language the suppression and brutality of the ancien régime, and celebrates the rage of the Revolution:
Halloh, ihr Herren von Wohlgemuth / Laßt sehen, wie sprudelt hochadeliches Blut / Wie tanzen hochadeliche Schädel? / Horcht, horcht, Euch gürgelt das Todtenlied, / Des Druk's der Tirannen sind alle nun müd. (p. 4)
Agreabilis then describes the revenge of the reaction and expresses his confidence that freedom will finally prevail, addressing the forces of the reaction:
Ihr Herren seid ihr nicht verrückt, / So seht, das Rachschwert ist gezükt, / Flieht vor den Freiheitssöhnen, / Und lernt daß es unmöglich sei, / Die Freigewordnen zur Sklaverei / Aufs neue zu gewöhnen! (p. 15).
Not in Holzmann-Bohatta; the only copies we where able to locate are in the Municipal Library of Mainz, University Library Bamberg, and the Municipal Library of Augsburg.
£500
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