Pulo Tymon

Title

Pulo Tymon

Description

Representation of the mountain Pulo Tymon on the island of Timor, on reverse shows the embassy palce in Cambodia

ca. 1690

Artist

Meurs, van (1619/20-1680)

Jacob van Meurs (1619-1680) was a well-known Dutch bookseller, engraver and publisher. The vast majority of books published by Meurs date from 1650 to 1680. At the beginning of his career, Van Meurs published some works on the history of Amsterdam and the Republic. Later in his career, van Meurs achieved some important successes in selling books on China, Japan, Africa and America. Previously, he worked with contemporaries such as Johan Nieuhof (1618-1672), Olfert Dapper (1636-1689) and Arnoldus Montanus (1625-1683). Van Meurs is even considered the leading printer of works across the non-European world for the period 1660-1680. Typical for these large, luxurious editions were the beautiful illustrations of unknown peoples and exotic places. In 1665 van Meurs achieved great success in this genre with the publication of Het Gezantschap by the Neêrlandtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, a geographical work on China. This book referred to the VOC's first legation before the imperial court in Beijing. The author of this book, world traveler Johan Nieuhof (1618-1672), had himself been involved in this mission and had been in Asia for some time when it was published in the Republic. At that time, the book had a major impact on China's European image. This success confirmed that there was sufficient demand for books that dealt extensively with colonies overseas and other distant locations. Van Meurs liked to respond to this public need and decided to continue focusing on this particular genre. In 1667 he published another work on China, China monumentis, this time by the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680). Exactly a year later, in 1668, a precise description of the African countries was published, a work by Olfert Dapper (1636-1689) on Africa. This was the first attempt to summarize all available information about Africa in a single European language. Frontispiece of Gedenkwaerdige Gesantschappen of the East Indian Maatschappy in 't Vereenigde Nederland (1669) by Arnoldus Montanus, published by Jacob van Meurs. In 1669, Van Meurs published a book about Japan in collaboration with Arnoldus Montanus: commemorative Gesantschappen of the East Indian Maatschappy in 't Vereenigde Nederland. In the meantime, Olfert Dapper was working on a second book on China, descriptions of the Emperor of Taising von Sina, published by Van Meurs in 1670.