Reysen’s Creation and its Creators

Abstract

Roland Barthes once wrote how ‘a writer can only imitate a gesture that is always anterior, never original [; his] only power is to mix writings, to counter the ones with the others, in such a way as never to rest on any one of them.’¹ Barthes’ imitating writer is aptly reflected in the invention of Reysen. Reysen was far from an authentic piece, and the involvement of its alleged author Jan Struys in its writing was rather ephemeral to boot. The book’s creation instead resulted from the combined efforts (beside those of the printers and their personnel²) of two publishers, two engravers, a mapmaker, the two authors of the letters included in the book, two patrons, a ghostwriter, and the seafaring sail-maker. This capitalist venture is described in this chapter, while its success in delivering a profitable product is topic of the next.