CONTENTS AND ABSTRACTS

On the Thresholds of an Old Map: A Paracartographic Approach to Joost Jansz Bilhamer’s Caerte van Noorthollant
ANNE-RIEKE VAN SCHAIK AND BRAM VANNIEUWENHUYZE

In what contexts were old maps made and used? What values did map users attach to documents like these, in their own time and afterwards? In this article we apply the ‘paracartographic approach’ to the edition of Joost Jansz Bilhamer’s Caerte van Noorthollant from 1608 to answer questions about the socio-cultural context, meaning and reception of old maps. First, we analyze the perimap (elements in the immediate surroundings of the map, e.g. cartouches, titles, legends) and then search for different forms of the epimap (elements outside the immediate surroundings of the map, e.g. reproductions, provenance notes, patents), among other things by studying contextual documentation about the production and consumption of the map. We explain the merits of the interpretation of the perimap and epimap and, thanks to the analysis, come up with a new hypothesis about the production and use of the map: as a means of promoting the Northern Quarter and West Friesland. With this case study we hope to expand and update knowledge of the Rijksmuseum’s cartographic collection and to encourage scholars, curators, collectors and map lovers to look beyond the spatial data old maps provide.

The Model of a Screw Steamship from the Studio of Marine Painter Eduard van Heemskerck van Beest
TIRZA MOL EN JEROEN TER BRUGGE

The Rijksmuseum has a number of nineteenth-century ship models once owned by the former naval officer and marine painter Jacob Eduard van Heemskerck van Beest (1828-1894). One of them, a model of the earliest generation of screw steamships with sails, a hybrid of a traditional sailing ship and a steamship, has recently been restored. During the restoration it was found to have the generic characteristics of a screw steamship, but a specific identification of function (navy or merchant navy) was not possible because of the lack of details. There are, though, strong indications that it must have been a sailing toy model. Given the presence of a drive shaft to the screw, grease stains (lubrication?) and a removable funnel, it seems that there was once a little steam engine in the empty cavity gouged out of the block from which the model was made. The model also has a lead keel, which gave this toy the stability it needed. In a normal ship model, the keel would have been made of wood. The fact that the painter Eduard van Heemskerck, who himself had spent a short time in the navy, was interested in ship models is obvious. It seems likely that the models played a role in his studio in creating a maritime setting: as inspiration, as examples for his work and to put potential buyers of his paintings in the right mood. However, it is less likely that they formed part of Van Heemskerck’s carefully put together collection of seventeenth-century furniture, decorative pieces, paintings and two room panels that he sold to the forerunner of the Rijksmuseum in 1877. The nineteenth-century dating and undistinguished quality of the ship models mean that they are out of place in the collection acquired at that time.
 
Pemmy’s Alphabet Book: On the Power of Creativity by Women in a Japanese Concentration Camp 1942-45
MATTIE BOOM AND SUZAN MEIJER

An extraordinary book made from fabrics, titled Pemmy’s Alphabet Book, has recently been gifted to the Rijksmuseum. This book is a copy of Rie Cramer’s 1936 A is een Aapje. What makes this work so special is that it was made between 1942 and 1945 in the Japanese internment camp of Brastagi on East Sumatra, where handiwork and the possession of books were increasingly banned. Mies Aalbersberg made this book with the help of other women in the camp, to celebrate the birthday of her daughter Pem Hagers, the donor of the object. According to the stories her mother told her, Mies supervised the making of the pages. Research has shown that the consistently rendered images were probably all made by the same person, whereas the rhymes were embroidered with varying stitches and by several hands. This, like collecting the various materials that were used in the book, may have been the contribution made by the other women. Even though several examples of embroidered fabrics from Camp Brastagi have survived, none of them are as elaborate as this book. It shows the artistic power of those women, who in captivity jointly created a book, which may have allowed them to escape from their awful situation just for a moment. This book made from fabrics is a valuable historical artefact which not only shows the creativity and the resilience of the women in the camp, but is also a poignant reminder of a dark period in history.

Recent Acquisitions: Dutch History
JEROEN TER BRUGGE, MILOU FRANCISCA, MARIA HOLTROP, DANIEL HORST, HARM STEVENS AND MAREN DE WIT