Ode to Catharina EggesOn her own merits
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Catharina Egges was born in Wijdenes, North Holland, on 4 January 1750. She is the daughter of preacher Johannes Egger and Guurtje de Groot. Catharina married, but was widowed early on by Willem Cloek, a merchant. After his death, young Catharina remarried in 1770 to Jan Doll, early publisher and bookseller in Amsterdam. When Jan died in 1781, Catharina decided to continue the publishing house and bookshop under the name Weduwe J. Doll. She does this on her own. The three children who reached adulthood grew up in the business and in time also assisted her. She kept control of the company until her death in 1824, for more than 40 years.
Her contribution to publishing is that she published many women writers. Among them the still well-known Aagje Deken and Betje Wolff, but also writers whose names have been forgotten, such as Maria van Zuylekom, Adrianna van Overstraten, Petronella Moens, Petronella Woesthaven, Anna Barbara van Meerlen Schilperoort, Katharina Bilderdijk-Schweickhardt and Fenna Masterbroek. In Els Kloek's book 1001 Women, chapters are dedicated to all these writers.
“The almanac also included space for prose and poetry written by women.”
Catharina also published an edition of the Almanac ‘For women by women’ for 30 years. The almanac listed the dates of horse and annual fairs, Christian and saint's days, the ringing of the gate bells of Amsterdam, Enkhuizen and Haarlem, the departure and arrival times of train barges and mail wagons. In short, useful information. I can imagine that the annual publication of the almanac was looked forward to by Amsterdam's female elite. The almanac also had space for prose and poetry written by women. The intention was to contribute to a virtuous life. It also featured romances, the life stories of famous women like Jacoba van Beieren and Maria de Medici, nature reflections, poems with a divine slant and references on how to act as a girl or woman.
It makes me curious about what would such an almanac, for women and by women, look like in our time?
Sources used:
Els Kloek, 1001 Women {555}
www.dbnl.org
Period
1750– 1824
About
Ode by Maria Dubbeldam, on behalf of De Zaak de Muurbloem to Catherine Egges, also known as wid. J. Doll.
After the death of her husband, she continued the publishing house/book seller.
Catharina Egges
Catharina Dóll-Egges (Wijdenes, 1750 - Amsterdam, 1824) was a publisher and bookseller.