Extremely rare separately issued broadsheet of the 1740 Batavia massacre. The image is engraved and etched by artist Adolf van der Laan and published by Bernardus Mourik in Amsterdam.

The item is so rare that it is lacking in every collection and considered unobtainable.

The view is also the most detailed early view of Batavia, showing the city center with canals and canal houses. North is at the left, where the back entrance of Batavia castle can be seen with the warehouses. On the far right the City Hall and the Portuguese church are visible. On the top of the view is citadel Rotterdam, the eastern entrance to the city. Chinatown is in the foreground, with the house of the Captain of the Chinese in the lower right. He tried to escape in womans' dress but was recognized and captured.

Condition

Minor repairs and strengthening of the margins as common with loosely issued large broadsheets. Overall in very good to excellent condition.

Rarity

The view is of utmost rarity.

Transcription and translation of the title at the top

Afbeelding van dat gedeelte van BATAVIA, alwaar eigentlyk de Schrikkelyke Slagting der CHINEZEN, na de Ontdekking van hun verraad, geschied is, den 9. Octob: 1740

Image of that part of BATAVIA, where the terrible massacre of the CHINESE actually took place, after the discovery of their treachery, on October 9, 1740."

Transcription and translation of the verse in six strophes at the bottom

Batavia, beroemt in Afie en Europe,
Werd in zyn meeste pracht vertoond op dit Tafreel;
Dus ook hoe de Euveldaad haar wis bederf belope,
Wen zy de Woede van gehoonden valt ten deel.

't Verraad, allengs gesmeedt, en tot den top geklommen,
Barst, tot bederf eens Lands, in't eind verfchriklyk uit,
En kost vaak d'ondergang van Land en Vorstendommen,
Indien het niet in zyn beginzel word gestuit.

Een Volk, dat zonder reên, uit muitzucht, onrechtvaardig
Zyn Wettige Overheid zoekt op het hart te treen,
Is geen meedogen, maar de strengste straffe waardig,
En heeft met recht verdiendt den haat van't algemeen.

Dus werd hier't snood verraad gestraft naar zyn waardye;
t Chinees gebroedzel, door de Moordzucht aangespoord,
Om zich in't Christen bloed, met wrede tyrannye,
Eerlang te Baden, word hier zelf in't bloed gefmoord.

Hun Kapitein, wiens Huis wierd met Gefchut befchoten
Den brand ziende opgaan, wilt ontvluchten in dien staat;
Doch My, door 't volk gekend, omringt en ingesloten, Hy
Word zelf gevangen in zyn Vrouwelyk gewaad.

Dus zorgt de Hemel voor het heil van all'de Zynen,
Hoe groot de nood zomtyds moog' wezen in een Land,
En doet de Zon van Rust, na Storm en Ramp, weer schynen,
Als Zy, die zyne straf verdienden, zyn van kant.

Batavia, famous in Asia and Europe,
Has been shown in its greatest splendor in this tableau;
Thus also how the atrocity promises her certain ruin,
When she falls victim to the wrath of those wronged.

The treachery, gradually forged and risen to the top,
Bursts out, to a country's ruin, in the end terribly,
And often costs the downfall of countries and kingdoms,
If it's not stopped at its inception.

A people, without reason, out of mutiny, unjustly,
Trying to step on the heart of its legitimate authority,
Deserves no pity, but the strictest punishment,
And has rightly earned the hatred of all.

Thus, the vile treachery is punished according to its worth;
The Chinese brood, incited by the thirst for murder,
Intending to bathe in Christian blood, with cruel tyranny,
Is here itself murdered in blood.

Their Captain, whose house was bombarded with artillery,
Seeing the fire rise, wants to flee in that state;
But me, recognized by the people, surrounded and enclosed, he
Is himself captured in his womanly attire.

Thus, Heaven cares for the well-being of all its own,
No matter how great the distress sometimes may be in a country,
And makes the Sun of Peace shine again, after Storm and Disaster,
When those, who deserved its punishment, are gone.

Antique maps of the East India Company
Old Master Prints
Antique maps of China
Antique maps of Southeast Asia