This study examines the ‘descriptions of cities’ or ‘urban historical topographies’ that were published in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. Its questions are: What are the conceptual... Show moreThis study examines the ‘descriptions of cities’ or ‘urban historical topographies’ that were published in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. Its questions are: What are the conceptual foundations of the genre? What are the underlying principles that determine the topics that the authors choose and how they approached them? In the chapter-length introduction the genre is defined and an overview is given of the urban topographies published before 1700, situating them in their political and social context. Aspects of production and reception, belonging to the field of book history, are also discussed. An answer to the study’s main questions is attempted in six chapters. Chapters 2-5 discuss the four most important disciplines that influenced the genre: chorography, encomiastic literature, travel methods, and antiquarian research. Two concluding chapters present two case studies, focussing on the cities of Delft and Leiden in the province of Holland. The first shows how these disciplines converged in urban historical topographies. The second situates them in an international context. Show less
