Publish and be Free: A catalogue of clandestine books printed in The Netherlands 1940–1945 in the British Library

313 Pages·1975·10.222 MB·English

by  Anna E. C. Simoni (auth.)

PUBLISH AND BE FREE
De achttien dooden. By Jan Campert (Cl)
Publish and be Free
A catalogue of clandestine books
printed in the Netherlands 1940-1945
in the British Library
Compiled by
Anna E. C. Simoni
MARTINUS NIJHOFF /THE HAGUE /1975
in association with
British Museum Publications Ltd
for the British Library, London
C I975 by Martinus Nijhoff. Ths Hague. NsthfWlands
All rights rsss1'Vsd. including ths right to translaIB 01' to
rsproduCB this book 01' parts thsf'sof in any form
ISBN-13: 978-90-247-1764-4 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-1695-7
001: 10.1007/978-94-010-1695-7
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. VII
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1
Author catalogue, with Illustrators, Composers, Anonymous Titles 7
Index of Publishers, Printers, Series. 231
Concordance I . 271
Concordance II . . . . . . . . 276
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Jan Campert, De achttien dooden (C1) Frontispiece
G. Achterberg, Reiziger ~oet'Golgotha (A16) Facing page 10
R. van Aerde, Stem in de woestijn (A19) 11
The Atlantic Charter (A32) 20
Baudelaire, Douze poemes (B11) 21
H. de Bruin, Job (B46) 36
Miniature books (R26, G31, W21, K9, W12) 37
Geuzenliedboek. Berste and Derde vervolg (G 7, G 5) 68
W.G. Hellinga, Dies noctesque (H22) 69
H.C. Kool, Ben nieuw welkomstlied (K15) 134
M. Mok, Ben naamloos strijder (M25) 135
M. Mok, De zeven hooJdzonden (M28) 136
Fons Montens, 0 Kersnacht, schooner dan de daegen (M32) 137
M. Nijhoff, Der Apostelen eerste daad (N11) 148
Omar Khayyam, Kwatrijnen (02) 149
B.A. Poe, The city in the sea (P13) 178
F. Schurer, Lied op den verrader Frans Vergonet (S9) 179
Vernal, Verzen voor een vriend (V14) 202
Theun de Vries, WA-man (V42) 203
PREFACE
In May 1970 the 25th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands
was celebrated in the King's Library of the British Museum with an ex
hibition of Dutch clandestine printing. The books shown were part of
the considerable collection assembled in the intervening years by Miss
Anna Simoni in the course of her official duties in the Department. It
has been decided that the size and quality of this collection justify the
publication of a catalogue. For this, and the full indexes which have
been provided, credit is also due to Miss Simoni.
The British Library Board wishes to express its deep appreciation of
the generosity of the donors and helpers whose names are mentioned in
the introduction.
K.B. Gardner
Principal Keeper
Department of Printed Books
INTRODUCTION
The Second World War saw German rule extended over many countries
where most of the people were fundamentally opposed to the Nazi ide
ology. In all these enslaved nations Resistance movements sprang up
and they took various forms, one of the most important of which was
the work of the illegal press. In the Netherlands, as elsewhere, under
ground newspapers were of the greatest political importance. At the
same time a large number of pamphlets helped to strengthen the peo
ple's will to continue the struggle and to form public opinion on future
developments. An unusual feature of Dutch printing activity as com
pared with that of other occupied countries was the clandestine book -
a work of literary pretension, however modest, rather than of journal
ism.
The 557 books listed in this catalogue form part of this clandestine
literature of which over a thousand items are known. Neither in the
Netherlands nor elsewhere is there yet a complete collection, and it may
be impossible for one ever to be assembled, since many of the pieces
were printed in limited editions. Of some there were only fifteen or ten
copies; of a few only one. In the winter of 1970/71 the indefatigable
collector and bibliographer Dirk de Jong transferred his own incompa
rable collection to the Society for Dutch Literature at Leiden where it
is now made available to the student at Leiden University Library. Other
important collections in the Netherlands are in the University Library
and the State Institute for War Documentation at Amsterdam and in the
Royal Library at The Hague where books in the Museum Meermanno
Westreenianum/Museum of the Book can also be seen.
Outside the Netherlands the collection formed in the Department of
Printed Books of the British Museum, now part of the British Library,
is substantial enough to afford the student considerable opportunity.
Compared with the above mentioned collections it contains some of
the rarest items and some interesting variants as well as pieces not listed
2 INTRODUCTION
in Mr. de Jong's standard bibliography on the subject nor present in his
collection or among Leiden University Library's additions to it, and
some of which do not occur in the special catalogue of Amsterdam Uni
versity Library either. It consists of books which range, textually, from
an edition of Heraclitus in the original Greek to a jubilant song for the
day of liberation on which the date and place of that happy event were
to be filled in by the owner, and in size, from not much larger than a
postage stamp to poster format. Apart from Dutch books, texts in and
translations from French, English and even German were printed. What
they all have in common is that they were produced in the Netherlands
during the German occupation from 10 May 1940 to 5 May 1945 in de
liberate defiance of the decrees and regulations which the Germans had
made to control the book trade, especially those of the detested Kul
tuurkamer, "Chamber of Culture", which operated from early in 1942.
Resistance, immediate and direct, is, therefore, the subject of only
some of the clandestine books; others indirectly encourage the spirit of
Resistance, through the expression of patriotism, religious consolation,
or the recall of the Dutch past; while even those which reflect only the
general poetic themes oflove and spring have acquired a heroic quality,
simply by existing at all.
Those responsible for"the printing and distribution of these books ran
continual risks. Unauthorized paper had to be used. Printers whose shops
had been officially closed continued to print. When books were not un
mistakably hostile to the occupying power, they were often the work of
authors or artists banned as Jews or socialists. As a result one bookseller
had his shop closed, some printers were fined, others received warnings
which enabled them to take precautions before being raided, although
the majority were never found out or molested. But not a few lost their
liberty or even their lives. Among these were the printers of the first
edition of the Dutch translation of Vercors' Le silence de la mer who
were surprised at work during a search for underground newspaper press
es. No copy of the edition survived and the printers were executed. The
most prominent victim among the producers of these books was the
printer and painter H.N. Werkman. At the very end of the Occupation
he was arrested for alleged excessive use of paper. Just before his captors
retreated, and simply because they could not understand his art and
considered it decadent, they shot him, with nine other prisoners. Werk
man had been one of the earliest clandestine printers and one of those
who endeavoured to maintain the highest possible standards in spite of
ever increasing difficulties and hardships in working conditions and daily
INTRODUCTION 3
life. The bibliophilic character of so many of these books is a special
feature of Dutch clandestine printing and is in itself a declaration of
faith in the values of civilization, of hope for their survival, and of de
fiance against an alien and barbaric oppressor. They contrast with oth
ers which in their paper, typography, even the lack of anything to hold
them together, bear witness to the haste in which they took shape. Many
a colophon or preface recalls the appalling circumstances which had to
be overcome before a booklet could be finished.
Once printed, these books could of course not be sold over the coun
ter of ordinary bookshops. They were distributed by the boys and girls
who carried underground newspapers to people's homes and collected
the money when they could, or were sold by booksellers to trusted and
regular customers whom they admitted to private offices or attics. Books
in series were often sent or taken by hand to regular subscribers. The
receipts went partly to living authors, illustrators and printers who often
were themselves in hiding, but much of the money went straight into
the funds of the Resistance movement and was used to provide the
means of existence for fighters and fugitives or their dependants. The
publishing venture which adopted the name of The Busy Bee came about
almost accidentally for the purpose of raising money for Jewish children
placed with non-Jewish families, and it continued as a cornerstone in
the financial edifice of the Resistance. Others contributed equally to
the best of their ability. There were the long-established firms like A.A.
M. Stols; the ad-hoc publishers like J.P. Romijn with his "Tortoise se
ries"; or the combination of man of letters and practical bookseller,
W.G. Hellinga and A.A. Balkema, who brought out the "Five Pound
Press" series of remarkably handsome books. Pride of place must how
ever surely be assigned to the press of "The Blue Ship" for which Werk
man was designer and printer. The British Museum Library possesses
copies of twenty-seven of its forty productions, one of them in both its
issues.
A special word must be said about "Geuzenlied" and "Rijmprent".
The former is the name given to the poetry of the Dutch rebels against
Spain in the 16th century, which was naturally felt to be relevant once
more in the 20th and was therefore both reprinted and added to. The
latter is a form of printing combining an illustration and a poem on a
single sheet. Derived from devotional prints and street ballads of earlier
centuries, this had been revived as an art form in the Holland of the
nineteen-twenties and thirties and was again found suitable for express
ing powerful emotions during the years of the Occupation. Most famous