Multilingualism, Language Education, and Text Circulation in New Netherland: The Library of Gysbert van Imbroch and Rachel de la Montagne (1665)

In 1665, surgeon Gysbert van Imbroch passed away in the New Netherland town of Wiltwyck, leaving behind approximately 540 books that had belonged to him and his wife Rachel de la Montagne. It was a multilingual collection of books, many of which were sold within the Wiltwyck community, and it included numerous educational titles designed for the instruction of reading and writing. This article analyzes the Van Imbroch-de la Montagne library as a prism on the ways in which the linguistic and textual marketplaces of the Dutch Republic were transplanted to New Netherland. It argues that families and especially women like Rachel were crucial agents in the transmission of language skills and textual culture in the colony, and that Rachel was a probably a language teacher in Wiltwyck. By contextualizing the Van Imbroch-de la Montagne library from the perspectives of language history, book history, and educational history, this article offers new insights into the linguistic and textual dynamics of seventeenth-century New Netherland