MONTANUS, Arnoldus. ~ De beroerde Oceaan, of, Twee-jaarige Zeedaden tusschen de Vereenigde Nederlanders en Engelsche; Aangehecht met deser Opkomst en geduurige voortgang, asgesneden met de dood van Martyn Harpertsz Tromp: Vervaatende de bysonderste geschniedenissen in Britannie zedert twee duisend jaare. Amsterdam: Jan Janssen Brouwer and Gillis Janssen Valckenier, 1655.
8vo (156 × 95 mm), pp. [10], 361, [3], plus additional engraved title and 15 folding engraved plates, by Hondius after Beerstraten (the first after van Vondel). Contemporary vellum, overlapping fore-edges, manuscript title to spine. Early ownership inscriptions to title, engraved title and front pastedown (A. Van Swieten, 1655), old manuscript shelf marks, one apparently torn away at head of pastedown. An excellent copy.
In ‘The Tumultuous Ocean’ Montanus chronicled the Anglo-Dutch war 1652-1654, largely fought in the English Channel and North Sea between the two great European navies ― the Dutch force under the command of Maarten Tromp the English under Robert Blake and General Monck. The major engagements included the Battles of the Kentish Knock (fought in the mouth of the Thames estuary), Dungeness, Portland and Scheveningen (in which Tromp was killed). The fine engraved plates of De beroerde Oceaan are remarkable miniaturisations of scenes by marine artist Jan Abrahamsz Beertraten engraved by Jodocus Hondius (III) and include topographical views of both the English coast (mainly Sussex and Kent) and well as the French and Dutch. The engraved title is a striking satirical emblem of the English Commonwealth government, its two-faced head looking backwards and forwards as it tramples the figure of Neptune and kicks the English crown before it.
This is probably the second edition, the first with these plates, another edition probably earlier the same year (but undated) has a different and reversed version of the frontispiece bearing the imprint of Cornelis Janssen, pp. 368 text in black letter and only 6 plates. A third edition appeared in 1656.