In 1692 a report states; In Europe are no more than 10 to 12 cities where books are printed in considerable amounts. For England in London and Oxford, for France in Paris and Lyon, for Germany in Leipzig and for Holland in Amsterdam, Leiden, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Five large centers of publishers and printers in West Holland and England and France had only two each.

Amsterdam had about 400 bookshops, but those were very different from the bookshops we know, they hardly had books in stock, only the Bible or a few bestsellers. In the shop window were only the title pages, that's why the title pages were always so extensive, it had to tell the buyer as much as possible about the contents. If someone bought a book, the bookbinder still had to bind it for him.

What did people read? The Bible of course, the editions of this book are countless, but also sermons were printed (and read) in huge amounts. Bestsellers were the books of Jacob Cats and people devoured travel stories. The story of skipper IJsbrandt Bontekoe had to be reprinted every two years for over a century. These travel stories served another purpose, besides entertainment for the armchair traveler, it contained practical information for sailors and merchants about harbors, rivers, tides, but also about customs and traditions in other countries.

In close connection to the travel story was the atlas, which could be bought in every bookshop. Lucas Janszoon Wagenaar published his own charts and those were so famous in England, they still use the name “Waggoners” to address a specific kind of sailing book. Willem Jansz. Blaeu had his own bookshop and drew his own maps. No sailor or merchant could leave his shop, before he was interrogated about the new coasts he had seen. Blaeu improved his charts with first hand information and if it was done he filled the corners with lovely angels, grapes and the horn of plenty.

The habit of showing human figures on nautical charts originated from the fear for the Turkish army. In the 16th century Turkey was a maritime power and it had an army of at least 250.000 man, had conquered Hungary and was a threat to the rest of Europe. In order to avoid the Turks to find the North Sea, the chart makers placed human figures on their charts; they believed the Turks would not use these charts, because the Koran should forbid portraying human figures.

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