The Bookshop of the World: Making and Trading Books in the Dutch Golden Age

Description

The untold story of how the Dutch conquered the European book market and became the world's greatest bibliophiles—“an instant classic on Dutch book history” (BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review) "[An] excellent contribution to book history."—Robert Darnton, New York Review of Books   The Dutch Golden Age has long been seen as the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, whose paintings captured the public imagination and came to represent the marvel that was the Dutch Republic. Yet there is another, largely overlooked marvel in the Dutch world of the seventeenth century: books. In this fascinating account, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen show how the Dutch produced many more books than pictures and bought and owned more books per capita than any other part of Europe. Key innovations in marketing, book auctions, and newspaper advertising brought stability to a market where elsewhere publishers faced bankruptcy, and created a population uniquely well-informed and politically engaged. This book tells for the first time the remarkable story of the Dutch conquest of the European book world and shows the true extent to which these pious, prosperous, quarrelsome, and generous people were shaped by what they read. Cover page Halftitle page Title page Copyright page Contents PRELUDE Making Room for Books THE MIRACLE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC BUILDING A LIBRARY PEOPLE OF THE BOOK THE POWER OF PRINT LOST BOOKS ON MONEY, TIME AND DISTANCE PART I A NEW REPUBLIC CHAPTER ONE Beginnings FEASTING ON THE CORPSE OF ANTWERP UNDER THE HAMMER THE MASTER OF AMSTERDAM CHAPTER TWO A Poisonous Peace PAMPHLET TROUBLES REVEREND DIRT-FLINGERS DON’T MENTION THE WAR THE TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY CHAPTER THREE News Cycles THE BIRTH OF THE NEWSPAPER THE ROAD NOT TAKEN A SCHOOLMASTER DROPS BY THE INVENTION OF ADVERTISING MORALISING NEWS THE ECOLOGY OF NEWS CHAPTER FOUR To the Ends of the Earth HALL OF FAME MEN OF MAPS SHIPWRECK HERO THE GREAT ATLAS ARMCHAIR TRAVELLERS PART II PILLARS OF THE TRADE CHAPTER FIVE The Marketplace of Devotion THE BOOK OF BOOKS THE PIOUS BESTSELLER BORROWED PLUMES DR BOUMA’S SIN OF PRIDE A LETTER FROM ALBANY CHAPTER SIX Schoolmaster Bartjens COUNTING MONEY SPANISH TYRANNY AT SCHOOL INEXPENSIVE WISDOM CLASSICAL REPUBLIC CHAPTER SEVEN The Life Academic LAND OF LEARNING PROMOTIONS FOR SALE LODGING WITH VOSSIUS THE BIRTH OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS STUDY AND SPEND CHAPTER EIGHT The Men on the Cushions THE RISE OF THE STADSDRUKKER FROM THE COUNCIL CHAMBER TO THE STREET THE MUNICIPAL GOLD MINE AMSTERDAM VERSUS ORANGE PART III TRUE FREEDOMS CHAPTER NINE The Dangerous Pleasures of Leisure THE PEOPLE’S POET MONEY FOR NOTHING THE WEDDING SINGER FROM THE GEUZENLIED TO THE REGENT’S PARLOUR THE ALPHEN PIG WAR CHAPTER TEN Art and Power SERVING TWO MASTERS CHOOSING SIDES THE REMONSTRANT UNDERGROUND TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY REMBRANDT’S BOOKSHELF CHAPTER ELEVEN Bookshop of the World TO FRANKFURT FRANCE ‘BETTER BOOKS, SOLD BETTER CHEAP’ MR ELZEVIER PRESENTS LOOK NORTH SELLING THE REPUBLICS THE SPOILS OF WAR AN ODE TO COLLECTING CHAPTER TWELVE The Art of Collecting BOOKS FOR ALL POCKETS THE BREWER’S FEAST WINDFALLS FROM THE POISONED TREE THE PROFESSOR AND THE STATESMAN THE LIBRARY OF JOHAN DE WITT PART IV CATASTROPHE ANDREDEMPTION CHAPTER THIRTEEN Boundaries LIBRI PROHIBITI DANGEROUS THINKERS A NEW ISRAEL DIVIDED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE CHAPTER FOURTEEN Our Learned Friends PLAYING THE MARKET GET WELL SOON TRUE HISTORY CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Business Press ON THE BOURSE THE ARTIST AND HIS DEBT THE MILLION-GULDEN CHANCE A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF COMMERCE THE CRAFTSMAN’S HELPMATE CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Golden Trade TRADING THROUGH ADVERSITY THE DOMESTIC MARKET A FAMILY BUSINESS LIFE ON NOVA ZEMBLA Timeline Endnotes Bibliography Illustrations Acknowledgements Index