His love for the Belgian girl Mathilde Thomas inspired the poet Jacques Perk (1859-1881) to write some extremely lovelorn verses. High point is the Mathilde Sonnettenkrans from 1880. Before the cycle was published in the literary periodical De Nieuwe Gids, it had been edited rather drastically by Willem Kloos, the leader of the literary Eighties Movement.

Thanks to Kloos’ legacy, which was entrusted to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in 1938, it is possible to follow quite precisely where and how Kloos intervened in Perk’s text. The Perk collection represents just a small part of Kloos’ total legacy.The major part covers the archives of the much talked-about periodical De Nieuwe Gids, of which Kloos was one of the founders. Included in the periodical’s correspondence archives are letters dating back to the years 1885-1925 from all the major literary men of the day: Lodewijk van Deyssel, Herman Gorter, Jacobus van Looy, Frederik van Eeden and many, many others.

• See the Mathilde Sonettenkrans
• Read more about the collection De nieuwe Gids

> back to the literators page