Tekstblad voor het Monument voor de Nassause Oorlog, 1625 1625

This broadside, created in 1625 by Jan Amelisz, is printed with ink on paper. It's a text sheet intended for a monument commemorating the Nassau War. The appearance of this print, with its dense columns of text and rudimentary illustrations, results directly from the mechanics of early printing. Individual letters were arranged by hand, one at a time, to form words and sentences. This labor-intensive process, a precursor to industrial modes of production, allowed for the mass dissemination of information, but also shaped the very look and feel of the document. The act of printing itself, with its reliance on movable type and the printing press, reflects a society grappling with new technologies and ways of organizing labor. By understanding the processes involved in its creation, we can appreciate the role of this broadside not just as a historical artifact, but as an object imbued with the social and cultural values of its time.