Privileged Translations: State-Sponsored Translations in the Early Dutch Republic

This essay explores the intimate relationship between translations and printing privileges in the early Dutch Republic (ca. 1581-1621). Printing privileges provided temporary monopoly rights to produce a variety of printed materials, including books, pamphlets, engravings, and maps; they are usually understood as relatively straightforward means used by printers to strengthen their economic market position. This essay argues, however, that printing privileges were equally part of the soft power machinery employed by the Dutch authorities to establish the Republic as an important state in its own right. Remarkable in this respect are the many privileges issued for translations. The essay contends that framing the system of printing privileges in political terms can help us better understand how, why, and when specific translations appeared on the market. Based on extensive and new source materials, I provide statistical data regarding the share of translations within the Dutch system of printing privileges. I then focus on four questions: Which translations were privileged? Why specifically these books, maps, and prints? Who was the intended audience? And what was the role and status of translators in the distribution of printing privileges? The answers to this set of questions will provide a better understanding of the patterns of normativity in how translations were brought to the market in early modern Europe and will clarify their impact on the building of the early Dutch Republic in the context of the early modern cultures of knowledge.