Ellen van Heteren
A mystery traveller
In the mid-seventeenth century, the Dutch city of Haarlem was a centre of culture, learning and art. In this city lived Theodorus Schrevelius, humanist and poet. Born in Haarlem in 1572, Schrevelius studied the classic languages. He became conrector and later rector of the Latin School in his home city. After twenty-four years of service, he was fired because of his remonstrant religious orientation and moved to Leiden, where he also filled the role of rector. Later, he was able to move back to Haarlem. Nearing the end of his life, he wrote the Harlemias, which added to a long list of publications by his hand. After over three hundred years, a copy of this book ended up in the special collections of the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome (KNIR). What is the story of this mystery traveller?
The Harlemias, printed in Haarlem by Thomas Fonteyn in 1648, was written because of Schrevelius’s love for the city in which he was born and raised. The author wrote a history of this city from its first building blocks to his own time. In doing so, he covered many different aspects of this history, which he divided into six ‘books’. The first book tells the tale of the city’s origins, the second of the famous siege of Haarlem, and the third that of the Dutch Revolt and reformation that followed. From the fourth book on, the subjects get more thematic: The fourth book summarizes all the city’s privileges and nobility; the fifth describes the rise of institutions such as the military, schools and police; the sixth book is all about the civility of Haarlem, its important magistrates, learned men, artisans and artists, and all other workers. The work was originally written in Latin and published in 1647, but soon it was rewritten in vernacular Dutch, because the author wanted to share his love for his city with everyone and not just the learned elite, as Schrevelius shares in his foreword to the reader. The books are accompanied by several poems and laudatory speeches.
After this engraving follows the typographical title page on which it, of course, states the entire title, the author and the impressum. On the back of this folio, someone has left their initials or some type of illegible signature. The engraving was an intricate part of the book as the same engraving is found in all other books from the print of 1648. A reprint from 1754 shows a different engraving. The larger part of the book is printed in a gothic letter, but some exceptions occur when names, poems or any type of citation is written.
Overall, the book and its paper are in excellent condition. There are no tears or breaks and no signs of biological infestations except for a little bookworm who left tiny holes in pages 247-383. With the exception of the end leaves and title pages, not a single marginalium can be found. These first few pages do carry interesting information about the provenance of the book. Most of these are, unsurprisingly, stamps and pencil-written signatures of libraries that held this book. Far more interesting, however, is a loose piece of paper that was put between the pages of the book. It contains an invitation for two persons to a concert that was organised by the Acedemie de France a Rome. A previous owner thus was somehow related to the French Academy of Rome. The catalogue of the KNIR library only reveals that the object was added to the collection in 2018, although I find this somewhat unlikely. Unfortunately, the KNIR does not seem to keep any other information about when or how this book came into the possession of the KNIR, whether it has ever been in the French Institute, or when it was bought by or donated to either institution.
Arts and Literature
The books in this category all have the common thread of being works of literature, or works about literature, with the occasional deviation into the visual arts. The works by Heinsius and Van Mander, for instance, both profess their admiration for the classical works of Ovid, and place the Metamorphoses, among other works in Latin, on the same pedestal as the Christian bible as a source for literary or painterly inspiration. A literary sub-thread shared by Heinsius’ work and the collected works of Bredero is that they are works of literature in themselves, be it the poems of Heinsius, or the plays by Bredero. Van Mander’s writing, however, is mainly a critical gloss on Ovid.
Other shared characteristics are found in the material aspects of the book, most of which had to do with the economics of the printing industry in the seventeenth century. For instance, the edition of Heinsius’ work is comprised of two books, one printed in France, and one in Italy. The work from France places the emphasis of its budget mainly on lavishly decorated pages, containing clean woodcuts for historiated initials, but saving money by using an inferior quality of paper to that of the Italians. The Italians, however, with their high-quality paper, saved money on the decorations by using lower-quality woodcuts for the initials and illustrations. The studied edition of Bredero’s work was a second edition by a printer named Hartgers, who removed, or reused certain parts of the first edition. The main reason Hartgers gave for the emendations was to make a more civil, or decorum version of Bredero’s work. It is likely, though, that it was mainly done to create a cheaper edition, so that the profit would increase.
The aim for increased profit was also shared by the printer and publisher of van Mander’s Schilder-Boeck. The studied work, the critical glosses on Ovid, are included in the book, but have a separate title page. This thus indicates that the works were printed and sold separately, a practice often employed by the printer Jacob de Meester and the publisher Paschier van Westbusch. This way they could make more money on from one work, by selling the constituent parts as smaller books. A simple, but effective strategy.
All in all, the works share their categorisation as works akin to literature, be it literary works, or criticism, and their printers’ and publishers’ keen eyes for the financial aspects of the printing culture.