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Author: Court, Pieter de la
Title: Interest van Holland, ofte, Gronden van Hollands-welvaren
Place Published: Amsterdam
Publisher:By Joan. Cyprianus vander Gracht
Date Published: 1662 & 1663
Description:

[16], 267, [5] pp. [bound with] Huygens, Constantijn. Den Herstelden Prins tot Stadt-houder ende Capiteyn Generaal vande Vereenighde Nederlanden, ten dienst ende luyster vande loffelijcke en de wel geformeerde Republijck vande Geunieerde Provincien, &c. tegens de boekjens onlangs uyt gegeven met den naem van Interest van Hollandt, ende stadt-houderlijcke regeringe in Hollandt... [16], 122, [4] pp. (8vo) 15x9 cm (6x3½"), period vellum.

Interest van Holland is Pieter Court's most famous and important work. In this critical analysis of the economic success of the Dutch Republic he ascribes the rise of Holland to a combination of free competition and free (i.e., republican) government. It clearly was a republican manifesto, so on one side of the political spectrum it gained notoriety and infamy and on the other fame and honor. Abroad it was translated into German and English and was studied in order to learn how the Dutch had ascended to a position of prominence in the European and world economic and political theaters despite being relatively small both geographically and in population. Huygens (1596-87), a Dutch poet and composer, secretary to two Princes of Orange, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens, here pens a rebuttal of Interest van Holland, defending the House of Orange, and rebutting as many republican assertions as possible. Court's work is likely the first edition, though there were five 1662 printings, and Huygen's counter to it is apparently the only edition. Eight lines of ink commentary in Dutch on front flyleaf.

Some rubbing and discoloration to vellum, spine darkened a bit; minor aging within, light stain to title page of first work, very good.