Frans Houttuyn, Amsterdam Bookseller: Preaching, publishing and the Mennonite Enlightenment
2004; Volume: 78; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0025-9373
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Cultural Studies of Poland
ResumoAbstract: Frans Houttuyn, disciple of Newton and other thinkers, was an eighteenth-century bookseller, publisher and preacher of Amsterdam. His bookshop, the was a hub for like-minded Mennonites in discussing new ideas and buying books with up-to-date views. On Sundays he preached sermons. Houttuyn aimed to harmonize values of science, rationality and toleration with the faith. He was one of many intellectual Mennonites exploring this link. His particular role in the Dutch was to publish and disseminate books. Houttuyn published many Mennonite-authored books and was one of the most active in producing spectatorial journals. Although Houttuyn's name in and history is less visible than the learned theologians and writers of the books, his role as publisher-bookseller, like others in the book trade, is one that deserves attention. ********** Amsterdam bookshop of Frans Houttuyn was marked by an overhead sign, The Isaac Newton. publisher's mark on his books had the same emblem. Frans Houttuyn (c. 1719-1765), publisher and preacher, was clearly an enthusiastic disciple of Sir Isaac Newton, the scientific giant of the age. Houttuyn's engraved publishing mark, or emblem, found in nearly ali of his books, showed a portrait of Newton, a sketch of a lumberyard (the literal meaning of his own name, Hout-tuyn) plus small images of a printing shop and a bookstore. Holding it all together was Houttuyn's motto: Aedificando floret. Let edification flourish. (1) By linking his name to that of Newton, be gave a touch of elegance and intellectualism to his business. eighteenth century called itself the Age of Enlightenment, and Houttuyn as a publisher-bookseller saw himself as one of the agents of human edification, and enlightenment. On Sundays he served as a preacher in his church. Were these contradictory pursuits? Houttuyn believed he could harmonize the two worlds of the enlightenment and religion. Dutch historians refer to a Protestant Enlightenment or Christian Enlightenment. In the same spirit, Frans Houttuyn and his wider Houttuyn family were at the heart of a Mennonite Enlightenment that heavily utilized Frans's skills in publishing and bookselling. goal was to integrate rationality, culture and religious faith. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HOUTTUYN'S EARLY LIFE AT HOORN Houttuyn's parents, Pieter Adriaansz Houttuyn (1683-1736) and Aaltje Jacobs Vogel (1680-1757), were part of a leading Frisian family of Hoorn and Amsterdam. (2) Frans was born somewhere in the middle of four siblings: Jannetje, Jacob, Aafje and Adriaan. (3) At the time of his birth around 1719, Hoorn had two Doopsgezinde (Mennonite) churches; his family belonged to the Frisian congregation, although some members of the extended family belonged to the other church, the Waterlander Mennonite. In 1747 the two congregations merged into a single United congregation. Frans's father, like many of the Houttuyns, was a church leader, serving as a Frisian lay preacher, a dienaar des woord (preacher of the Word). (4) In time, Frans's brother Jacob (1711-1789) became a preacher; and another brother, Adriaan (d. 1783), was a deacon. A cousin, Adriaan Cornelisz Houttuyn (c.1700-1777), was another of the preachers of Hoorn. (5) In the mid-eighteenth century, being a preacher was part-time work, a lay calling to go alongside an occupation intended to earn a living. Jacob and Adriaan were merchants, owners of a large cheese business. Taken as a whole, the various Houttuyn family branches constituted a solid corps of respectable, prosperous citizens, certainly a part of the commercial elite of Hoorn, (6) active as merchants, medical doctors, preachers and, as in the case of Frans, an occasional bookseller-publisher. …
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