Tweede deel van enige oefeningen, 'twelk is in geographia ofte aertkloots-beschrijvinge. / By Dirck Rembrantz van Nierop. Amsterdam: A.S. van der Storck, 1674.

Full transcription of the title-page

Tweede Deel Van enige Oefeningen, ’tWelk is in Geographia ofte Aertkloots-beskrijvinge, Waer in dat gehandelt wort:

Ten eersten, over het vroeg vertonen der Sonne op Nova Sembla int Iaer 1597.

Ten tweden, enige aenmerkingen op de Raise benoorden om na Oost-India.

Ten derden, van Abel Tasmans ontdekking na het onbekende Suitlant.

Ten vierden, van de Letterspelling, dat is hoe men de Letteren uitspreken en spellen sal.

By een gestelt door [Portret in houtsnede met de naam in randschrift:] Dirck Rembrantz van Nierop. Liefhebber der Mathematise Konsten.

t’Amsterdam, By Abel Symonsz. van der Storck, Boeckverkooper op ’t Water, by de Nieuwe Brugh, in de Delfse Bybel, 1674.

Translation of the title-page

Second part of some Exercises, that is on Geography or Globe Description. In which is dealt with:

First, the early appearence of the Sun on Nova Zembla in the yaer 1597.

Second, some remarks on the voyage along the North to the East Indies.

Third, Abel Tasman’s discovery of the unknown South-land.

Fourth, the Letter-spelling, that is how one shall pronounce and spell the Letters.

Composed by [Woodcut portrait with name in legend:] Dirck Rembrantz van Nierop. Lover of the Mathematical Arts.

In Amsterdam, [Sold] by Abel Symonsz. van der Storck, Bookseller at ’t Water, near the New Bridge, in the Delft Bible, 1674.

STCN-record

Nierop, Dirck Rembrantz van
Tweede deel van enige oefeningen, 'twelk is in geographia ofte aertkloots-beskrijvinge. / By Dirck Rembrantz van Nierop. Amsterdam, A.S. van der Storck bsr, 1674. 4o: A-H⁴ I²
Fingerprint: 167404 - b1 A2 r$ : b2 I2 ben$
Typographical information: typographical title-page, illustrations on title-page, type face Gothic, illustrations within collation
Copies: Koninklijke Bibliotheek 2111 C 1:2; British Library 538.d.6

Composition

A1r (= p. 1): Title-page
A1v (= p. 2): Blank
A2r-A2v (= p. 3-4): Preface (“Aen den leser” = “To the reader”)
A3r-C1r (= p. 5-17) : First section
C1v-G4r (= p. 18-55): Second section
G4v-H4v (= p. 56-64): Third section
I1r-I2v (= p. 65-68): Fourth section

On this publication

Dirck Rembrantszoon van Nierop (1610-1682) was a shoemaker in the small village of Nieuwe Niedorp. At the same time he was one of the greatest mathematicians and astronomers of his time. He wrote more than thirty books on these subjects, connecting them with theology, history and geography. Christiaan Huygens and René Descartes were among his correspondents. Most famous were his Tydtbeschryvinge der Waereld (World Chronology), 1654, his Onderwijs der Zeevaert (Instruction of Navigation), 1661, and also his mathematical tables and almanacs.

The first part of this work, entitled Eenige oefeningen, in god-lijcke, wis-konstige, en natuerlijcke dingen (Some exercises in divine, mathematical and natural matters) was published by Gerrit van Goedesberg in Amsterdam in 1669.

Gerrit van Goedesbergh died in January 1670. On 24 March of the same year his shop at the ‘Water’ (now: Damrak) in Amsterdam, one of the most expensive and popular locations for bookshops, was bought by Abel Symonsz van der Storck, who then entered the book trade. Van Goedesbergh’s stocks of bound and unbound books were auctioned in three sessions in 1670 and 1671. On one of these occasions Van der Stock must have acquired the unsold copies of Van Nierop’s Enige oeffeningen. In 1674 he reissued these copies, replacing the title page by a new one with his name in the imprint. This was a common practice in the 17th century Dutch Republic. In this case it was probably done in connection with the publication of the second part of the Oeffeningen in the same year. Abel Symonsz van der Stock’s name appears in many imprints of books by Dirck Rembrantz van Nierop, until the end of his career in 1679.

The two cheap volumes of Exercises were apparently meant for sailors, students and others who were interested in mathematics, navigation and geography. The third section of the second volume contains an abstract of the voyage by Abel Tasman in 1642/1643. The text focuses on the mathematical aspects of position course calculation at sea. The volumes have never been reprinted, so probably they were not a great commercial success.

Abel Tasman’s journal was not made public at the time. It is unknown how Van Nierop may have copied or studied it. Probably he had good connections at the East India Company. Remarkable is the insertion on p. 58 in which Van Nierop explains that the inhabitants of New Zealand are literally the Antipodes of the people in Galicia and Portugal.

For the convenience of modern Dutch readers a page by page transcription (PDF) of the Dutch text into Roman characters has been provided as well.

Translations

English translations:

• ‘Short relation out of the journal of Captain Abel Tasman...’, in: Royal Society of London, Philosophical Collections no. 6. March 1681/2. pp. 179-186.
• 'Relation of a voyage made to the South Terra Incognita...’, in: An account of several late voyages & discoveries… 1694, pp. 131-142. (Reprint, Amsterdam 1969)
• ‘An account of a voyage made towards the South Terra Incognita...’, in: John Harris, Navigantium atque itinerarium bibliotheca. London, 1705. Vol. 1, pp. 608-610.
• ‘Abel Tasman to Australia’, in: Terra Australis Cognita: or, Voyages to the Terra Australis, or Southern Hemisphere, during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Vol. 2. Edinburgh, A. Donaldson, 1768, pp. 355-379 (Reprint Amsterdam and New York, 1967)

Dutch versions of these English editions:

• Hedendaagse historie of het vervolg van de Algemeene historie beschreeven door een gezelschap van geleerde mannen in Engeland. Uit het Engelsch vertaald. XIde deel, IIde stuk… Behelzende de historie van Terra Australis, of het Zuidelyk vaste land. Te Leiden, by P. van der Eyk, Daniel Vygh en J. le Mair, te Campen by J.A. de Chalmot, 1779, p. 445-465.
• Nederlandsche reizen, tot bevordering van den koophandel, na de meest afgelegene gewesten des aardkloots… Negende deel. Te Amsterdam, by Petrus Conradi, te Harlingen, by V. van der Plaats, 1786, p. 132-144.

Acknowledgements

Digitized copy: Koninklijke Bibliotheek 2111 C 1:2

The translation of Dirck Rembrantsz van Nierop, Tweede deel van enige oeffeningen…, was mainly taken from ‘A short Relation out of the Journal of Captain Abel Jansen Tasman, upon the Discovery of the South Terra incognita’ in Royal Society of London, Philosophical Collections 6 (1681-1682), pp. 179-186.