ABSTRACT
The 1660s may well be regarded as the decade in which Dutch printing and publishing came of age. Dutch presence in foreign markets was strengthened, Christoffel van Dijck produced high-quality type, Joan Blaeu printed the spectacular Atlas Major, and an unprecedented number of publishers was active in the domestic market. The Dutch Republic became, in Voltaire ’s words, ‘le magasin de l’univers’. 1 But there were also early signs of trouble. Temporary hardships such as the wars of the 1670s intensified commercial difficulties caused by stagnating domestic markets. This more structural development became particularly pressing when printing in the vernacular expanded in other countries and foreign competitors took to challenging a Dutch market presence. 2 Eventually, Dutch book production would lose its leading international position and become, in many respects, an innovative backwater.
