Pieter Mortier, or Pierre Mortier as the publisher of books in French, was the name of three successive generations of booksellers and publishers in the Dutch Republic.
The first Pieter Mortier (Leiden, 1661 – Amsterdam, 1711) was the son of a political refugee from France, and became a mapmaker and engraver. He travelled to Paris in 1681–1685, then returned to Amsterdam where he operated as a bookseller from 1685 until 1711. He won the privilege in 1690 of publishing maps and atlases by French publishers in Amsterdam for the Dutch market. [1] He used this privilege to win a similar set of privileges for printing an "illustrated print bible" in 1700. [1] Also known as "Mortier's Bible" (Dutch: Mortierbijbel or Prentbijbel Mortier), this book's official name was Historie des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments, verrykt met meer dan vierhonderd printverbeeldingen in koper gesneeden ("History of the Old and New Testaments: enriched with more than four hundred printed illustrations cut in copper"). The text was written by David Martin (a French Protestant theologian in exile), while the engravings were made by several artists who were well known at the time, including Bernard Picart, Jan Luyken and Gerard Hoet. [2] According to Houbraken, David van der Plas worked with Pieter Mortier I on etchings for Bybelsche Tafereelen (Bible stories), published in Amsterdam in 1700. [3] [4] [5]
In Amsterdam, he was located at Middeldam, 1685–1686, and then at Vijgendam, 1686–1711. His sign board was "Stad van Parijs" between 1685 and 1700. He was known to have used a fictitious publishing address in Antwerp and also in London. The Short Title Catalogue Netherlands attributes the publication of 261 titles to Pieter Mortier I. [6] During the first decade of the eighteenth century, Mortier challenged the Huguenot Estienne Roger for domination of the polyphonic sheet music market by implementing a price war. [7]
He married Amelia 's-Gravensande (1666–1719), who, as a widow, ran his publishing business until her death. The couple had two sons, Pieter Mortier II (see below) and Cornelis Mortier (1699–1783), who in partnership with Johannes Covens I (1697–1774) began the map publishing company Covens & Mortier (1721–1866) that became the largest cartographic publisher in the eighteenth century. [1]
Pieter Mortier II was active in Amsterdam as a bookseller in 1730, 1734–1735, 1740–1741, 1745, and 1749, as well as being the town printer. Additionally, he was also active in Leipzig in 1745–1746, 1751, 1753. His Amsterdam business was located on Kalverstraat in 1742 and at Nieuwendyk, at the fourth house from Zoutsteeg. His sign board was "L'Envie". The Short Title Catalogue Netherlands attributes the publication of 249 titles to him, including French language editions by Rene Duguay-Trouin, John Locke, Pierre Bayle and the last four volumes of Guillaume de Lamberty's fourteen volume Memoires pour servir a l'histoire du XVIII siecle. [6]
Pieter Mortier III, sometimes known as "Mortier le jeune", was active in Amsterdam between 1754 and 1781. he was known to have been a bookseller, 1763, 1764–1772, 1774–1777, 1779–1781; town printer, 1763–1781; and university printer, 1765–1766, 1771–1772, 1774, 1776, 1778–1779. The Short Title Catalogue Netherlands attributes the publication of 202 titles to him. His business was located in Amsterdam at Nieuwendyk, the fourth house from the Zoutsteeg, 1764–1768; Warmoestraat, east side the second from St. Annastraat, 1769–1777; and Leliegragt, on the north side, the seventh house from Heeregragt, 1779–1781. [6]
Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem was a highly esteemed and prolific Dutch Golden Age painter of pastoral landscapes, populated with mythological or biblical figures, but also of a number of allegories and genre pieces.
René Trouin, Sieur du Gué, also known as René Duguay-Trouin, was a French Navy officer and nobleman best known for his actions during the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century. He had a brilliant privateering and naval career, eventually becoming Lieutenant-General of the Naval Armies of the King in 1728, as well as a Commander in the Order of Saint-Louis. Ten ships of the French Navy have since been named in his honour.
Romeyn de Hooghe was a late Dutch Baroque painter, sculptor, engraver and caricaturist.
Elzevir is the name of a family of Dutch booksellers, publishers, and printers of the 17th and early 18th centuries. The duodecimo series of "Elzevirs" became very famous and very desirable among bibliophiles, who sought to obtain the tallest and freshest copies of these tiny books.
Gerard or Gérard (de) Lairesse was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist. His broad range of skills included music, poetry, and theatre. De Lairesse was influenced by the Perugian Cesare Ripa and French classicist painters such as Charles le Brun, Simon Vouet and authors such as Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine. His importance grew in the period following the death of Rembrandt. His treatises on painting and drawing, Grondlegginge Ter Teekenkonst (1701), based on geometry and Groot Schilderboek (1707), were highly influential on 18th-century painters.
Adriaen van Nieulandt was a Dutch painter, draughtsman and engraver of Flemish descent. He is known for his history paintings with biblical and mythological subjects, often incorporating elegant nudes, portraits including schutterstukken, genre paintings and still lifes.
Bartholomeus Breenbergh was a Dutch Golden Age painter of Italian and Italianate landscapes, in Rome (1619-1630) and Amsterdam (1630-1657).
VOC chief traders in Japan were the chief traders (opperhoofden) of the Dutch East India Company in Japan during the period of the Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Edo period.
Frederik de Wit was a Dutch cartographer and artist.
Arnold Houbraken was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters.
Friderich Martens (1635–1699) was a German physician and naturalist who conducted the first scientific observations of the nature, animal life and climate of Svalbard. He published his notes in the book "Spitzbergische oder Groenlandische Reise-Beschreibung, gethan im Jahre 1671" and this book became a reference work for many decades.
Estienne Roger was a francophone printer, bookseller and publisher of sheet music working in the Netherlands.
Abraham van den Tempel was a Dutch Golden Age painter.
Johan, or Jan van Gool (1685–1763), was a Dutch painter and writer from The Hague, now remembered mainly as a biographer of artists from the Dutch Golden Age.
Pieter Wouwerman was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter.
Verdussen was a dynasty of printers in Antwerp, starting with Hieronymus Verdussen I in the late sixteenth century, and ending around 1800. Many other printers in Antwerp were also related to the Verdussens through marriage. They specialized in religious works and works in Spanish, but also published newspapers, almanachs, poetry, scientific works, .... By the end of the 17th century, they produced about 21% of the Spanish books printed in the Netherlands, and with 5 presses was second only to Moretus in Antwerp. In 1876, the Verdussenstraat was named after the family in Antwerp.
Gilliam van der Gouwen, first name also transcribed as Guilliam and Willem was a Flemish engraver who spent most of his active career in the Dutch Republic. He is known for his reproductive engravings and various title pages, maps and book illustrations for the Amsterdam publishers.
The Atlas der Neederlanden, or Atlas of the Netherlands, is a composite atlas which was presumably collected and composed by the publishing company Covens and Mortier in Amsterdam. The maps are gathered in nine volumes and show how the Low Countries, including Belgium and the former colonies of the Netherlands, have developed over the course of about two decades. The atlas contains more than 600 printed and manuscript maps and is preserved by the Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam.
Sara Johanna de Beer was a printer and editor of a number of newspapers and magazines in the Dutch colony of Surinam.