Veelderhande Liedekens (Various Songs), ghemaeckt wyt den Ouden ende Nieuwen Testaments . . . ende op den A.B.C. by den anderen ghevoecht, is a Dutch hymnal. The following editions are known:

1. first, probably 1554, of which no copy is extant;
2. second ca. 1555;
3. third, printed in 1556, probably at Cologne, Germany. The hymns are arranged in alphabetical order. This third edi­tion, which according to Wieder was not printed for the Mennonites but for the Sacramentists, in­cludes some hymns by Anabaptist martyrs like Frans van Bolsward.
   
4. Of this edition a new enlarged edition entitled Veelderhande Liedekens . . . appeared about 1559. The following editions, all containing a number of Mennonite hymns and prob­ably all much used by the Dutch Mennonites, are
   
5. Veelderhande Liedekens published by Nicolaes Biestkens, n.p., 1560;
6. same title, same publisher, n.p., 1562;
7. same title, 1566, n.p., probably print­ed by Nicolaes Biestkens at Emden (a specifically Mennonite edition with 257 hymns);
8. an edi­tion of ca. 1566;
9. same title, 1569, n.p.;
10. same title, n.p., 1569, apparently printed by Biestkens at Emden (a somewhat modified reprint of the Nieu, Liedenboeck of 1562);
    
11. a reprint of 10, published 1575 under the same title;
12. same title, 1577, n.p.;
13. same title, enlarged edition with an appendix, printed in 1579, n.p., probably by Biestkens, now at Amsterdam;
14. same title, 1570, n.p., exact reprint of 12;
15. same title, 1580, n.p., exact reprint of 13;
16. same title, 1582, n.p., probably printed by Gillis Rooman at Haarlem;
17. same title, 1582;
18. same title, Amsterdam, 1582, containing 321 hymns (ac­cording to Wieder this was the first complete Men­nonite edition);
19. same title, printed by Rooman at Haarlem, 1589; exact reprint of 17;
20. same title, printed by Rooman, Haarlem, published by Cornelis Claesz at Amsterdam, 1593 (this edition and also Nos. 21, 26, and 28-34 consist of three parts);
21. Amsterdam, 1596, reprint of 20;
22. 1598, n.p., reprint of 4;
23. Amsterdam, 1599;
24. Amsterdam, 1608;
25. Amsterdam, 1608;
26. Amsterdam, 1611;
27. Amsterdam, 1624;
28. Amsterdam, 1630;
29. Amsterdam, 1632;
30. a modified edition printed 1664 for Arent Jansz at Groningen, to be used in the Old Flemish Mennonite congregation of this town (332 hymns on 708 pages), contains an appendix called Sommige Nieuwe Schriftuerlijcke Liedekens, containing 50 hymns on 146 pages;
31. an edition under the modified title Veelderhande Schriftuirlijckc Liede­kens (Groningen, 1700) in which some of the hymns are slightly changed and the subdivision into three parts has been dropped;
32. reprint of 31 under the same title, Amsterdam, 1724;
33. same title, Amsterdam, 1752. This edition shows consid­erable modifications as compared with previous edi­tions; it contains 301 hymns. It is also entitled Geestelyke ofte Nieuwe Herpe Davidts and was printed for the Flemish congregations in Prus­sia.

All editions are without notes. The numerous editions of this hymnal clearly show that it was much used, in the Groningen Old Flemish congre­gations as late as ca. 1750.

Copies of 4, 10, 20, 24, 27, 30, and 33 are found in the Amsterdam Mennonite Library.

Non-Mennonite editions of Veelderhande Liede­kens (besides the above Nos. 1-4) are: (34) Veelder­hande Gheestelicke Liedekens, n.p., 1558, a greatly modified issue of the (3) 1556 edition, a number of hymns by Mennonites being omitted; (35) a reprint of 34, published in 1563, n.p., with a new heading, Gheestelycke Liedekens; this edition was reprinted (36) under the title Veelderhande Gheestelyke Liedekens in 1580 at ? and (37) under the title Schriftuerlicke Liedekens (Dordrecht, 1595).

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 799-800. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2013 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.