![the title page of The Great Mirror of Folly, it reads: Het Groote Tafareel der Dwaasheid](/sites-drupal/default/files/styles/max_scale_640x640/public/field_ers_item_record_image/2022-08/nypl.digitalcollections.bf7e7000-fc1a-0138-b893-0242ac110003.009.w.jpg?itok=8641Dch1)
The Great Mirror of Folly
Amsterdam: 1720
Etching, engraving, and letterpress
Many of the prints on view in this exhibition were published in a Dutch volume of 1720 entitled Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid (The Great Mirror of Folly). Hastily assembled by an anonymous group of Amsterdam-based publishers, the book was timed to capitalize on public interest in an unparalleled financial disaster. The title page, which would have appeared in shop windows to lure passers-by, declares the volume “a warning for posterity.” Composed of corporate prospectuses, poems, plays, pamphlets, and playing cards as well as caricatures, many drawn from the commedia dell'arte tradition, the volume proved to be a commercial success. It ridiculed the human propensity toward greed and irrationality, while also profiting from a fascination with speculative behavior.
The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. This item may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries.