Information
WOMEN DISCUSS WAR, AMERICA, TROMP & TARRING POLITICIANS' ASSES
[1ST ENGLISH WAR]. Het Hollants Wijve-Praetjen, ...
Haarlem, Pieter Davidtsz, 1652. 4to. With an allegorical title-page woodcut of Paris (dressed as an English Puritan) snubbing Athena (Holland) and Hera by giving the golden apple to Aphrodite. It is signed I.C.I. (possibly Christoffel Jaegher?). Modern dark blue goatskin morocco, cloth sides (Sangorsky & Sutcliffe).
| Orders and Information | € 1250 |
A political pamphlet in the form of a conversation between three women neighbours, published in or around September 1652, at the beginning of the Netherlands' First English War. Competition between England and the Netherlands for trade in America stoked the war and the topics of the West India Company, Brazil and the freedom of the seas come up in the conversation. The woodcut on the title-page shows Paris dressed as an English Puritan handing the golden apple to Aphrodite, while Athena (often used to represent Holland) and Hera watch, suggesting Cromwell caused the First English War as Paris caused the Trojan War. Christoffel Jaegher (1589/90-1652) signed woodcuts "I.C.I." but he worked in Antwerp and it is not clear whether this cut is his work.
Admiral Marten Tromp had favoured the house of Orange over the States General assembly, which relieved him of his command after a storm thwarted his intended attack on the English Admiral Robert Blake on 4 and 5 August 1652. They replaced him with Admiral Witte de With, who was just setting out with his fleet when the pamphlet was written (he was to be defeated by Blake on 8 October 1652, leading to Tromp's return). Of the three women, Grietje minces no words in criticizing the States General and others who worked against the "real hero" Tromp ("I'd tie them to the mast and tar their asses"). She had lived in the East Indies and says they should give Tromp a free hand like they did there. She supports the house of Orange, comparing the "Prince Murderers" in the Dutch government (alluding to the -- actually natural -- death of the Prince of Orange in 1650) with the "King Murderers" in England. Neeltje is pious, says God is punishing us for our sins, and always hopes for reconciliation. Trijntje takes a middle position and also provides much of the breaking news. The 36 Articles that the English presented in The Hague on (according to the pamphlet) 20 May 1651 (once erroneously "1652") are included in Dutch in a three-page footnote. The author's views are apparent in the title-page's reference to the "pretended" Parliament in England, and Grietje's view carries the day, with Neeltje hoping God finds the Netherlands worthy of winning and Trijntje hoping Admiral De With succeeds and things will go better than in the last six months. Grietje is also given the last word, noting that the government has turned a blind eye for three months, probably meaning since the first hostilities of 29 May 1652, and that Admiral Blake lies in wait outside the Dutch harbours.
With a library stamp and deaccession stamp on the title-page. In very good condition. A pamphlet on the beginnings of the Dutch-English war over (mostly American) trade, in the form of a colourful conversation between three women.
