TITLE. Dreaming. The Joy of Heaven and the Pain of Hell. How My Wife Rescued Me from Hell. Folio, (37 x 31.5 cm). Unpaginated. Fifteen pages with content, all mounted, all with brilliantly painted illustrations. After the title page, the text is entirely on versos, with lavish surroundings and sometimes underlying illustrations. Text is written with a calligraphic hand, letter devices, and other interwoven decorations. Facing rectos are all fully painted plate illustrations without text. The title is rich in gold leaf decoration, elaborate decoration, ornamental lettering, and vignette renderings of the devil and angels. We are launched into the narrator's dream, which is told in verse, with illustrations very ably relating the story even without. The narrator imagines he dies in the dream and gets dragged to hell by the devil. There he is flogged at the stake amid shooting flames. Nonetheless, the thought of the narrator's wife enables him to forget his pain and to laugh. Impressed, the devil strikes a bargain with the man -- if the man works as a stoker of the fires of hell during the day, the man could dine and sleep in heaven, where he can play cards with the saints, sing psalms with the devout, drink wine. However, the man must return to hell by 8 A.M. sharp to resume his work obligations there. The actual author, Nauta, died shortly after the making of this book, thus fueling speculation that he wrote the book as a tribute and gift to his wife. It is challenging to give a true sense of the richness of the illustrations with just words, of course. Still, as non-Dutch speakers, we can comfortably assert that the illustrations capture the storyline wonderfully. We see a funeral cortege, the grieving wife, the tormenting and taunting in hell, and on and on. In the illustrations, we catch glimpses of bourgeois life -- a church choir, a wedding party, card playing in a tavern -- and the more sinister machinations of the devil. One exciting illustration depicts horned devils stoking a huge furnace with multiple doors, a slide to deliver the coals, and a devil pushing a wheelbarrow with coals. Among the many charming vignettes is of black cats astride a fence howling at a smiling moon, while to the sides are caricature vignettes of rather repugnant people. The illustrations have a baroque quality, with their complexity and maximalist aesthetic. The blue cloth cover has an inset painting of a man surrounded by the devil and a few angels. The front and rear covers have brass studs jutting out upon which the book can rest. Some blank leaves follow the story. Condition: The cloth cover bowed, with some damp staining in the upper corner. Waviness to the mounted title, is undoubtedly the result of the gold leaf and paint covering it. Very Good. Hardcover. Coloured plates in order: 1. Title page. 2. Text page with illustrated scenes showing a funeral procession and the departed husband being dragged away by a demon. 3. Full-page illustration. The husband is seen in hell, tied to a flaming pole, and being whipped by the devil himself. Other poor souls are seen being tormented in the background. 4. Text page with an illustrated scene where the husband is seen in hell pleading with his wife (veiled and saintly) to rescue him from his endless torment, watched by the devil and other demons. 5. Full-page illustration. The wife is seen, fully dressed in mourning, attending to her late husband's grave. 6. Text page with illustrated scenes showing a moonlit night where more of the devil's disciples are taking freshly departed souls from the graveyard down into hell, where the devil himself and assorted henchmen await their arrival for endless fiery torments and agonies. 7. Full-page illustration. The huge fiery furnaces of hell are seen endlessly fed with the departed souls; horned demons are seen stoking the furnaces with fuel. The husband is seen with a shovel in his hand. 8. An ornate page of text. 9. Full-page illustration. It looks like a 'heavenly' game of cards, attended by angels watching the card game, serving behind a bar, and pouring wine from a bottle into a large jug. A servant holds the jug. Some card players have a golden halo around their heads - others do not, including the husband. 10. Text page with illustrated scenes of a choir singing at the top of the page, border scenes include singing birds, some semi-grotesque faces, drunken singing, dancing, and at the bottom of the page a collection of black cats 'singing' in the full moonlight. 11. A full-page illustration of a group of churchgoers and clergymen in a church, sitting or standing in a circle, singing a hymn, accompanied by a man playing the piano. 12. A page of text with beautiful marginal vignette illustrations featuring bunches of grapes on vines, a startled-looking cat sitting before a fish on a dish, and a sort of bacchanalian homage to drinking. 13. Full-page illustration showing a royal wedding feast, with angels, wine, food, a toast in progress, and happy couples. 14. A page of text, again filled with wonderful surrounding illustrations of 'death' on horseback, complete with a scythe, leading a long procession of people, some informed or crippled, into what looks like a mausoleum. We see the sand in an hourglass running out. A pair of stretched-out skeletons and a smiling skull adorn the top of the page. 15. The husband, with arms outstretched, prepares to meet 'death' with a white cape and scythe, holding hands with the wife. The devil bows in reverence by the husband's side. In the background, there looks to be a prison-like building with crenelated walls, barred windows, a portcullis, and massive chimneys belching out fumes and smoke.