Extract, uyt een Missive van de Heer de With, geschreven in de Royael Charles voor Chatham Possibly 1667

This is a news broadside printed in the Hague by Johannes Rammazeyn in 1667. It's a double-sided sheet, made with movable type and a printing press, to spread information quickly. Consider the labor involved: from cutting the metal type to setting it by hand, inking the press, and cranking out hundreds of these sheets. The ink itself, probably a simple mix of soot and linseed oil, is pressed into the cheap paper, creating a stark, immediate image. It's a medium perfectly suited to the urgent news it conveys: an account of naval battles during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The broadside’s rough-and-ready production mirrors the chaotic events it describes. It brings into focus the relationship between technology, communication, and political conflict in the 17th century. This was a time when information, like the ships described here, could change the course of history. It reminds us that even seemingly simple objects can carry immense cultural and historical weight.