USSELINCX, Willem?]. ADAMS, Yemant (pseudonym).

Den Nederlandtschen Bye-Corf: waer ghy beschreven vint, al het gene dat nu uytgegaen is, op den Stilstant ofte Vrede . beghinnende in Mey 1607. ende noch en hebben wy het eynde niet. Ende is ghestelt op een t'samen-sprekinge, tusschen een Vlamyng ende Hollander. Noch is hier by ghevoecht, een Ghedicht .[Amsterdam?], 1608. Small 4to. With 1 decorated woodcut initial letter. Disbound.

      - (8) pp. Alden & Landis 608/118 (3 copies); Asher 28/1 & Add.; Knuttel 1476; Muller, America 418/1; Sabin 98201 note; Tiele 686; OCLC WorldCat (1 copy); STCN (6 copies); cf. Simoni U-10 (2nd ed.). The last edition of the famous Nederlandtsche Bye-Korf (Dutch Beehive), printed to advertise and introduce a collective issue of thirty-seven anonymous pamphlets (more than the earlier editions) agitating against the proposed truce between Spain and the Netherlands in the middle of the Eighty Years' War, and warning the Dutch not to sacrifice their West Indian trade to the pursuit of peace. The anonymous publisher notes that a friend had urged him to gather together "all that has been published about the ceasefire and peace" because many people wished to collect the pamphlets and have them bound together, but since not even the booksellers know exactly what has been published, no one knows whether their collections are complete. He therefore brought together "all that I could get hold of" and added the present dialogue to be bound before them. In fact he included only pamphlets against the truce: none in favour of the truce! The main text of the present introductory pamphlet takes the form of a conversation between a Hollander (from the Dutch Republic in the Northern Netherlands) and a Flemish refugee (from the Spanish-controlled Southern Netherlands), the Hollander selling the Fleming the pamphlets, which are named individually. The present pamphlet therefore serves as a sort of catalogue, as well as a general introduction to the subject. The poem at the end, about Spain's untrustworthiness and the dangers of trying to make a peace settlement with them, is signed "Yemant Adams" (Someone Adams, a pseudonym probably meaning merely a descendent of Adam).On 4 May 1607, after forty years of war, Spain and the Dutch Republic began a ceasefire and peace negotiations that were to lead to the twelve-year truce two years later. The sharply divided opinions on the acceptable terms for peace and on the benefits and harm a truce might bring to the Republic set off a flood of pamphlets. The Dutch were considering establishing a West India Company, and Spain's wish to limit Dutch trade in the West Indies was the biggest stumbling block in the negotiations. The present pamphlet appeared in at least three editions (the STCN notes a fourth variant) listing an increasing number of pamphlets (from 30 in the first to 37 in the present third edition, including the introduction). All three are dated 1608 and apparently appeared after Easter (6 April) but before most of the pamphlets were banned on 27 August 1608, for the ban specifically mentions two pamphlets listed only in the third edition. One pamphlet issued with the second and third editions discusses a letter written on 6 June 1608 and not generally known until 1 July 1608, so the second edition probably appeared around July and the present third in or shortly before August. Several of the key pamphlets in the collection were written by Willem Usselincx, but it is not known whether he had a hand in the introduction. His most beloved project was to establish the West India Company, and the present introduction mentions both the Spanish intent to snatch away the best part of the Indies trade and how important it is to safeguard the Republic's free trade in the West Indies. The Hollander in the dialogue explicitly notes (as in the first two editions) that some of the pamphlets are "difficult to find" and that one pamphlet exists under two different titles, so it had clearly gone through two editions before the first edition of the introduction. Some pamphlets listed in all three editions of the Bye-Korf, appear to have been printed only once, while some mentioned only in the third edition survive in several printings. Clearly the pamphlets were reprinted at irregular intervals as supplies ran out, and more study is needed to determine the order of the editions and which were issued with which editions