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.
Place and Space
In this section all the works are connected by a sense of place and space with Willem Jansz. Blaeu for the Netherlands, Jan Reygersbergh in Zeeland and Theodorus Schrevelius in Haarlem. Within this, we see that there is a sense of pride of place. By depicting the country, the region or the city, in all its grandeur and glory, the authors are showing off the area. Not only that, it is also a personal pride of place. The authors write about the places they’re from or the places they currently reside. This is what connects these works: place, space and most importantly pride.
We start in the Netherlands, or more accurately in Italy. Blaeu printed a translated Italian work about the Netherlands and expands it. He took the liberty to include more of his own maps into the original, but translated work. The original Italian work from 1567 was first meant to be a description of the author’s beloved Antwerp, his place of residence. It later turned into a book dedicated to the Low Countries. Of course it is striking that an Italian would write about the Netherlands. It shows a sense of pride in his residency in Antwerp and his bright opinion on the city. The essay you will find in this section compares the two versions. What becomes clear is that Blaeu massively expanded the work, further showing his admiration for the country and the pride in his craft, upgrading the work to include not 16 maps, but 103.
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We zoom in slightly when we turn to Jan Reygersbergh’s Chroniick van Zeelandt which was edited and expanded by Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn we find ourselves, unsurprisingly, in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. The Chroniick, published in 1644, discusses the most important events, stadholders and dukes, and
cities in the province. With Middelburg, Vlissingen, Veere and Zierikzee being true hubs for trade and the VOC and WIC, this book was produced not only as a historical document, but also as a way for the author to show off the importance the province of his birthplace, Bergen op Zoom. Beautifully illustrated, the work is a true showstopper, with images of the dukes and the city coat of arms boasting incredibly detail.
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We zoom in further, but move provinces, into the city of Haarlem. Schrevelius, as a native of the city, expresses his praise and admiration through the writing on various subjects. Some examples include: the city’s origins, the siege of Haarlem, the Dutch revolt and the reformation. He then dives into Haarlem as it is in his time, privileges, government institutions and civility. The book in all other aspects is rather standard, however it shows pride in the city of Haarlem.
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As becomes evident, all the works in this section discuss place and space in connection with pride. Move through the Netherlands, Zeeland and Haarlem with these works and explore their materiality, their contents and their context.