Acknowledgements
This monograph results from my PhD research at the University of Groningen and the KU Leuven, between 2017 and 2022, which was part of the NWO and FWO funded project ‘In Readers’ Hands: Early Modern Dutch Bibles from a Users’ Perspective’. I want to thank my PhD supervisors, Prof. Dr. Sabrina Corbellini and Prof. Dr. Wim François, who have been an incredible force in my academic development. I feel privileged to have been supervised by such kind, creative, and open-minded scholars. I am grateful to NWO (the Dutch Research Council) and FWO (the Flemish Research Council) for financing the research project. I am also indebted to the Universitaire Stichting for their financial support for the publication of the images in this book.
I want to thank the many scholars who have, one way or another, been involved during my PhD research and in creating this study. Among them are, in particular, Bert Tops, August den Hollander, Lieve Watteeuw, Raingard Esser, Margriet Hoogvliet, Catrien Santing, Joanka van der Laan, Pieter Boonstra, Theo Lap, and Anna de Bruyn. To my brilliant colleagues at the University of Groningen and Utrecht University: thank you for supporting me and eating cake with me to celebrate even the smallest successes. I also want to express my gratitude to the many private collectors who have allowed me to study their Bible collections, especially Wilco Mastenbroek, Henk de Korte, Otto van Middendorp, Ben Felthuis, and Wim van ‘t Zelfde. Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen, thank you for your support and advice in publishing this study. I also want to thank Meredith McGroarty for the copy editing.
I am surrounded by the most wonderful friends and family. My gratitude goes out to my mom, for her empathy and feminism, and my dad, for his advice and encouragement. My oma Annelize (†) has been the best example of a female theologian I could have wished for and I am proud to carry her name. And Veerle and Marije, we prove that ‘een drievoudich snoer en breect niet lichtelijc in tween’: I am incredibly grateful for our own little trinity.1 Lastly, Floris. You have been my sounding board and safe haven. Thank you for your patience, intelligence, and love. I am looking forward to parenting with you.
‘A cord of three strands is not easily broken’ (Ecclesiastes 4:12), cited after JvL 1542a CB.