Schaede die den staet der Vereenichde Nederlanden, en d’inghesetenen van dien, is aenstaende, by de versuymenisse van d'Oost en West-Indische negotie onder een octroy en societeyt te begrijpen.The Hague, Jan Vreely, 1644. Small 4to. Flexible boards.

51, [1] pp.An anonymous pamphlet passionately urging the Dutch East and West India Companies (VOC and WIC) to join forces and form a single united company and lamenting what the author, in the title, describes as the “damage that the state of the United Netherlands and its people have suffered by the failure of the East and West India Companies to negotiate a single charter and company”. The author presents six detailed numbered arguments (he calls each a “reden”, literally a reason or the grounds) to support his claim, the first with parts numbered I-XX. The proposed merger of the two companies never took place. Arguments one (part X) to four explicitly refer to the trade in or conquest of Brazil in general (it was in Dutch hands from 1630 to 1654) and the first to Pernambuco in particular, and nearly all refer to the West Indies (a term that at this time included Brazil).Curiously, the back paste-down is made from a discarded title-page from Verhaal van drie voorname reizen naar Oostindien (Amsterdam, 1671) while four of the six copies known to the STCN lack the title-page. With the gutter margin of the title-page damaged, some minor stains and part of the paper covering the spine lost. A passionate plea for the formation of a united Dutch East and West India Company, giving detailed arguments based on circumstances in Brazil and other lands where they operated.l Alden & Landis 644/139 (5 copies); Asher 191; James Ford Bell Library, S121; Knuttel 5119; Landwehr, VOC 62 (2 copies); Sabin 77475; STCN 852673019 (8 copies); Tiele/Muller 2934; not in Borba de Moraes; JCB.