.,."UiI D .. . . . . < , .I,.~. BRILL Qut£rendo 38 (2008) 306-]21 ~ www.brill.nl/qua The Bookshop of the Counter-Reformation Revisited. I The Verdussen Company and the Trade in Catholic Publications, Antwerp, 1585-1648 Stijn van Rossem University ofAntwerp, Belgium Abstract After the Fall of Antwerp in 1585, the book trade in the Southern Netherlands was in decline. Some printing houses managed to stay in business by specialising in Counter-Reformation pub- lications. One of these was the Verdussen firm. This article shows how the publishing strategies of the Verdussens changed in the course of the seventeenth century by elaborating two case stud- ies, one from the period 1629-30, and an other from the years 1649-50. These two examples provide an insight into the organisation, geographical scope and importance of the book trade in two different sets of socio-economic circumstances. It also shows the significance of Antwerp as a hub in the Catholic book trade and highlights the creative solutions publishers made use of in order to keep their heads above water. Keywords Southern Netherlands, Antwerp, Verdussen family, book trade, seventeenth century, Counter- Reformation, publishing strategies The year I 585 was an important turning point in the history of the Low Countries. The Fall of Antwerp marked the end of Protestant influence in the Southern provinces and led to the de facto separation between the Protestant North and the Catholic South. Many investors moved north at the dawn of what would become the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic. Yet between I 585 and the Peace of Munster in 1648 the city of Antwerp enjoyed a relative eco- nomic and cultural boom by specializing in luxury items and by immersing I The title refers to the article by Jan Materne, 'La librairie de la Contre-Reforme: Ie reseau de I'Officine plantinienne au XVII' siecle', in: F. Barbier et aI., l'Europe et Ie livre: reseaux et prati- ques du negocede libraire XVI'-XlX' siecles (Paris 1996), pp. 43-60. © Koninklijke Brill NY, LeiJen, 2008