(-) = Print Culture, Printing and the Public Sphere, Conversion Narratives, Early-Modern Literature, Life-writing, Anglo-Dutch connection, Women’s writing in the 17th century
Browsing through the archives of the Rotterdam Public Library, I discovered that the historic book collection contains a single publication by an English woman at the seventeenth-century Rotterdam...Show moreBrowsing through the archives of the Rotterdam Public Library, I discovered that the historic book collection contains a single publication by an English woman at the seventeenth-century Rotterdam publishing house of Goddaeus, that of Katherine Sutton. Asking myself why this was the only book by a woman to be published at Goddaeus’ publishing house, my curiosity was aroused to find out why this English woman chose to publish a book in the Netherlands. It challenged me to discover if more women found their way to Rotterdam to publish their work and what their motives were. I found out that in the second half of the seventeenth century, more English women travelled to the Netherlands to seek refuge and two of them had their work published by Goddaeus: Katherine Sutton (1630-63) and Mary Hampson (1639-1698). Although they migrated in different time periods and for different reasons, they both seized the opportunity to publish their life experiences at a Dutch publishing house. Although the historical archives offer little to no information on the reason for their connection to Goddaeus, the fact that both women took their chance to publish their works while in exile, in their native language at a Dutch publishing house, triggered me to find out more. What follows here, is an overview of the cultural-historical context of the seventeenth century; an overview of connections and differences between English and Dutch society; the social impact of the seventeenth century printing industry; the position of women and their position to write; and ultimately how this culminates in the aim of these two women in particular, to pursue truth by making their life experiences public by means of print.Show less
