New Year’s wish from Elisabeth Jansen, postwoman

Elisabeth Jansen.

Nieuwjaars-wensch, opgedragen aan alle heeren kooplieden, burgers en inwooners der stad Amsterdam. Door de ombrengster der couranten en domineesbriefjes. Op den eersten Louwmaand 1810.

Amsterdam, Jan Ruysendaal, Boekdrukker, in de Gravenstraat, bij Nieuwendijk, no. 4. 1810.

Plano, 52 x 44,5 cm. Printed on one side. Illustrated with 3 woodcuts by “J.R.”

Elisabeth Jansen was the bringer of newspapers and pastor's notes in Amsterdam at the turn of the years 1809 to 1810. This charming broadside was dedicated by her to all the “gentlemen merchants, citizens, and inhabitants” of the city of Amsterdam. One can imagine that she would pass these along on new years day for a little tip. The wish is elegantly crafted as a lengthy poem, intricately weaving references to significant domestic and international events from the past year, with detailed notes below the poem that offer further explanations for these references. Three oval woodcuts at the top illustrate these themes. In the first oval is a farmer driving his cart loaded with a hay stack; in the background a mill. At center is a view of Amsterdam (?) with a man handing a letter to a woman standing on the doorstep. This woodcut is signed on the bottom left: ‘J.R.’ [Jan Ruysendaal]. To the right a seascape with sailing boats in the background and two men shaking hands in the foreground.

Due to their ephemeral nature, copies of such New Year's broadsides have always been elusive. An 1880 auction catalogue records some from other years as "very rare" (see reference). Only a handful are at present recorded in the main bibliographic databases and the one we offer here is not.

Condition: four folds, repair in blank corner, slightly frayed, tiny hole at the centre fold in the bottom of image. Otherwise in very good condition.

Reference: not in UBA; KB; WorldCat; KVK.

Catalogus eener belangrijke verzameling boeken en plaatwerken, teekeningen, gravures, historie- en spotprenten, uitmakende de bibliotheken nagelaten door de Heeren W.J.E. Smissaert [...], G. Kuyper Hz. [...] en anderen, waarvan de verkooping zal plaats hebben op Zaterdag 17 April 1880 [...] door [...]. ’s Gravenhage, Martinus Nijhoff, 1880, p. 102, no. 2759 (1794-1799 and 1814).