Vaderlandsch A-B Boek voor de Nederlandsche Jeugd

This rare proof edition of the complete set of illustrations made for Johan Hendrick Swildens's enormously successful children's book "Vaderlandsch A-B Boek voor de Nederlandsche Jeugd" (Patriotic ABC Book for Dutch Youth), published in Amsterdam in 1781, constitutes a vivid reflection of Enlightenment thought about popular education and a fascinating document of 18th-century Dutch cultural values in the midst of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-84) and on the eve of economic crisis and revolution. The prints are accompanied by two titlepages, a prospectus, and an explanation of the book's political utility signed by the author. This last, a nine-page folio entitled "Verslag van den oorsprong en de Staatkundige oogmerken des Vaderlandschen A-B Boeks" (Report on the origin and political objectives of Patriotic ABC Books), directly addresses the Dutch Republic's decline and leaves no doubt as to the sociopolitcal ambition of the book.

The finely rendered illustrations were designed by Swildens himself, together with Pieter Wagenaar (1747-1808). Twenty-seven of them are dedicated to the letters of the alphabet (with two corresponding to the letter G), each of them featuring an image and two lines of text. (In the published book, these vignettes and captions are accompanied by additional printed text.) Grounded in the belief that children's play should encourage their development as moral and productive citizens, image and text express ideals about family life, faith, politics, industry, and education. Most of the scenes include small children with whom young readers were surely meant to identify. The image representing the letter N (for Netherlands), for example, depicts a man holding a small child in his arms and pointing to a map of the country, while cartographic representations of its overseas colonies appear elsewhere in the room. The accompanying text reads, "The Netherlands is your fatherland. You live there safely. When you grow up, you will have your home there as well." Various other illustrations depict specific industries significant to the Dutch economy, including iron, peat, herring, linen, wool, and paper. The two illustrations that refer to God, for the letter G, depict idyllic landscapes at day and at night, their verses together emphasizing the expanse of God's creation and urging the young reader to "serve Him." The letter Z, for salt and soap (zout en zeep), is illustrated by women cooking and cleaning within a domestic interior and accompanied by this final exhortation: "Salt gives flavor to all food; soap washes everthing clean./ Child, think that Reason and Virtue are equally as necessary."