Fronden betragtet i Trykkefrihedens skær: Bolle Willum Luxdorph som læser af Gabriel Naudés dialog Mascurat

Bolle Willum Luxdorph (1716–1788) was a notable Danish book collector, and he
provided his books with owner’s marks and wrote marginal notes. Nowadays, he is most famous for his great collection of Danish press freedom writings from the period 1770 to 1773. Luxdorph wrote marginal notes in his books; some of which were meant for posterity, as it is clear from the catalogue of his library, where the books with marginal notes — as stated in his will — are marked with asterisks. The books in his library include a copy of Gabriel Naudé’s dialogue Jugement de tout ce qui a été imprimé contre le Cardinal Mazarin depuis le 6 janvier jusqu’à la déclaration du 1er avril 1649, known as the Mascurat, the first edition of which was printed in 1649 and followed by a second, much enlarged edition in 1650. In this book, Naudé discusses the Mazarinades, political pamphlets attacking Cardinal Mazarin and containing letters, official documents, burlesque poetry, ballads, discourses and dialogues, published in France during the Fronde in 1648–1653. Naudé wrote his dialogue in defence of Mazarin.
Luxdorph owned copies of both the 1649 edition and the 1650 edition. His copy
of the 1650 edition was bought by Suhm and thus ended up in the Royal Library. This article examines the marginal notes in his copy of the 1650 edition of the Mascurat within the wider context of Luxdorph’s marginal notes. As a whole, these notes do not point to Luxdorph’s Danish press freedom writings: rather, they transport the reader to the universal interests underlying Luxdorph’s
library. One striking note does however compare the Fronde with the “revolution” in Denmark: in his notes, Luxdorph compares a passage in Naudé’s text about common people appropriating the art of printing with his own experience of his servant, who came up with songs that were “assez méchants” during the fall of Struensee on 17 January 1772: “Mon valet faisait d’aussi assez méchants vers sujet de la révolution du 17 de janvier 1772.”