29 Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlant, &c. Weesp, 1656–1660

Jan van Hilten (c. 1602–1655), the courantier, Jacobsz entitled his newspaper the Courante uyt Italien died in late November 1655. He was buried in the Nieuwe ende Duytschlant, &c., a direct imitation of his father-in- Kerk on 22 November.1 Publication of his newspaper con- law’s newspaper. He also published it on Saturdays, and tinued, and the next two extant issues of his Courante presented it in an identical structure and form, printed uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c., dated from 18 December 1655 on both sides of a half-sheet folio. The only obvious dif- and 1 January 1656, were published at “the printing house ference between the Amsterdam Courante and its Weesp of the late Jan van Hilten”.2 Around three weeks after rival was the striking contrast in the imprint. The Amster- Jan van Hilten’s passing the future of his newspaper had dam edition was “printed by Otto Barentsz Smient, autho- been formally settled. On 10 December the burgomasters rised courantier of this city, also printer and bookseller, of Amsterdam appointed the printer-publisher Otto Bar- on the Reguliersbreestraat”, whereas the Weesp newspa- entsz Smient (1614–1689) as the courantier of the Courante per was “printed by Nicolaes Jacobsz, son-in-law of the late uyt Italien in succession to Van Hilten.3 Jan van Hilten, authorised stadsdrukker of Weesp, in the The remaining members of the Van Hilten family were Slijkstraat”. Jacobsz’s shop in Weesp was called the “gebor- not pleased by this decision. Nicolaes Jacobsz (c. 1631-?), a duyrde handschoen” (embroidered glove), the same name son-in-law of Jan van Hilten, regarded himself as the obvi- as Jan van Hilten’s shop in Amsterdam. ous successor.4 Jacobsz, a twenty-four year old bookseller Jacobsz’s move to Weesp was intended as a temporary in Amsterdam, had married Jan van Hilten’s daughter Celia venture. In May 1656 Jacobsz petitioned the Amsterdam on 3 September 1655.5 Jan van Hilten’s wife had died in burgomasters to move the publication of his newspaper 1639, and his two eldest children had passed away in 1628 to the city.7 He emphasised his lineage, presenting him- and 1640. This left Nicolaes Jacobsz and Celia as the sole self as the natural successor to Jan van Hilten. In mov- heirs of the family business. Across the Low Countries it ing to Weesp, Jacobsz had wanted to prove that he was was common practice for the privilege of the courantier an able courantier, worthy of his father-in-law’s name. to be passed down the family. Perhaps in this case, Smient The burgomasters refused: they considered that the four had a closer relationship with the Amsterdam burgomas- courantiers in Amsterdam provided enough newspapers. ters; Jacobsz’s name was not mentioned when the burgo- Pressure from Otto Barentsz Smient may also have per- masters granted Smient the position. suaded them that two competing ventures with the same In response to being snubbed, Jacobsz moved to the title was harmful for the industry. small town of Weesp, less than two hours by barge from While this blow could have felled any ambitious Amsterdam. Here, Jacobsz started a newspaper of his own. entrepreneur, Jacobsz did not give in. He continued his By January 1656, only several weeks after Smient’s appoint- venture, maintaining a rival Courante uyt Italien in Weesp ment, the Weesp press was born.6 for at least four years. Ten issues of this newspaper The earliest extant edition of this Weesp newspaper have survived between 25 March 1656 and 21 September dates from Saturday 25 March 1656. Given that this is issue 1660, located in Stockholm, St Petersburg and Oldenburg. thirteen, it seems likely that Jacobsz published the first Jacobsz’s success is all the more impressive given that he issue on Saturday 1 January, shortly after the Amsterdam was the first printer to settle in Weesp. No publications paper was awarded to Smient. In a clear act of defiance, are known from any Weesp press before 1656, and it is very well possible that the first book printed in Weesp 1 Kleerkooper and Van Stockum, Boekhandel, p. 260. was in fact an issue of Jacobsz’s Courante. Jacobsz’s ambi- 2 See chapter 1. tion seems to have paid off. Weesp was a small town of a 3 Kleerkooper and Van Stockum, Boekhandel, p. 727, and Sautijn Kluit, few thousand inhabitants, one-hundredth the size of Ams- ‘De Amsterdamsche Courant’, p. 228. terdam. Weesp did boast a ringed wall, and presented a 4 Dahl considered mistakenly that Jacobsz was a grandson of Van Hilten. See his Dutch Corantos, pp. 36–37. strategic location for the protection of Holland, just south 5 Kleerkooper and Van Stockum, Boekhandel, p. 292. of , on the river . It was also a common 6 For more thorough treatment of theWeesp press see my article, ‘Fear and Loathing in Weesp’. 7 Sautijn Kluit, ‘De Amsterdamsche Courant’, p. 228. weesp, 1656–1660 639 stopover on one of the main routes from Northern Holland the Weesp Courante. Given the low number of surviv- towards , Gelderland, and the Holy Roman Empire. ing issues it seems certain that other booksellers and A great deal of traffic passed through and aroundWeesp; in publishers did the same. Jacobsz’s newspaper was also 1642 a barge-canal, the second in the Dutch Republic, was read beyond Amsterdam: on 25 March 1656 the magis- opened between Amsterdam andWeesp.8 Regular services trates of the eastern town of Doesburg notified readers ran four times a day, ensuring that one could travel from of the Weesp Courante of their forthcoming annual mar- Weesp to Amsterdam within a couple of hours. ket.10 These developments turned Weesp into an ideal loca- The Weesp Courante was supported by the local mag- tion for a scorned courantier like Jacobsz. The burgomas- istrates and used by the regents as a source of publicity. ters of Amsterdam had no say regarding his activities in The appearance of a printing press and a weekly newspa- Weesp, but Jacobsz could sell his newspaper on the same per in the town was a source of pride, and advertised the day as Smient’s Courante through his connections in the importance of the small town to a wider national market. Amsterdam book trade. There would have been few news- On 23 June 1657, just over a year after the arrival of Jacobsz, paper readers in Weesp, but with a large market nearby, the Weesp magistrates announced the re-opening of their this was not a great concern. Furthermore, the location of Latin school—an announcement which they placed in Weesp on the route to the east allowed Jacobsz to despatch their local paper.11 The notification of three ox-markets in his newspaper to customers in the eastern regions of the the autumn of 1657 also appeared in the newspaper.12 Dutch Republic several hours ahead of Smient. Apart from his newspaper, next to nothing is known The Weesp Courante became a serious rival to the Ams- of Jacobsz’s time in Weesp. In 1659 he moved to the St terdam edition. While Jacobsz imitated the style and title Jorisstraat, where he lived opposite the city hall, again in of the Amsterdam newspaper, he maintained an indepen- the “embroidered glove”.No other publications of his press dent network of correspondents. A comparison of several have thus far been identified. As the first printer in the issues from 1657 of the Weesp and Amsterdam editions town it seems almost certain that he was responsible for demonstrates a clear difference in the news reports pre- administrative jobbing printing for the magistrates, and he sented by the two courantiers.9 Jacobsz focused on gath- may also have published necessary texts for the new Latin ering news from the Baltic and the Holy Roman Empire, school. while Smient specialised more in southern European news The final extant issue of the Weesp Courante, of sources. 21 September 1660, was unnumbered, and published on a In order to differentiate further between the two ven- Tuesday rather than a Saturday. This could indicate that tures Smient changed the wording of the title of his Jacobsz’s venture was running out of steam. Although he Courante slightly: “Duytschlant” became “Duytslant”, and made a formidable challenge to Smient and the Amster- the words “Italien” and “Duytslant” were both italicised. dam magistrates, the advantage always lay with the Ams- The assertion that Smient was the “authorised” courantier terdam edition. Yet the early success of Jacobsz’s news- of Amsterdam served as a reminder that he published paper inspired another periodical venture in Weesp. In the authentic version of the newspaper. For his part, 1665 the Amsterdam bookseller Samuel Imbrechts (1631– Nicolaes Jacobsz continued to emphasise the connection 1679) and the printer Mattijs Perfect (1620-?) signed a con- with his late father-in-law, always reminding customers tract to co-publish a weekly newspaper, the Oprechte Don- of his familial heritage. Jacobsz’s newspaper was popular derdagse Courante, printed by Perfect in Weesp and sold enough that several Amsterdam booksellers advertised in in Amsterdam by Imbrechts.13 The first issue of this ven- his newspaper, some as early as March 1656. The heirs of ture appeared in Weesp in February 1666, testament to Jodocus Janssonius, Cornelis de Leeuw, Isaak de la Tombe Jacobsz’s dogged determination to right the wrong done and Gerrit Willemsz Doornik all placed advertisements in to his family.

8 See, for example, a notification placed in the Courante uyt Italien of Jan van Hilten on 7 June 1642, which specifies that the new canal barge service between Amsterdam and Weesp takes less than two hours. Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlandt, &c. 1642. No. 23. 10 Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlant, &c. 1656. No. 13. 25.03.1656. 07.06.1642. 11 Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlant, &c. 1657. No. 25. 23.06.1657. 9 The issues published by Smient and Jacobsz on 13 January and 12 Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlant, &c. 1657. No. 39. 29.09.1657. 10 February 1657 have both survived. 13 See chapter 39.