The Life and Legend of James Wattoffers a deeper understanding of the work and character of the great eighteenth-century engineer. Stripping away layers of legend built over generations, David Philip Miller finds behind the heroic engineer a conflicted man often diffident about his achievements but also ruthless in protecting his inventions and ideas, and determined in pursuit of money and fame. A skilled and creative engineer, Watt was also a compulsive experimentalist drawn to natural philosophical inquiry, and a chemistry of heat underlay much of his work, including his steam engineering. But Watt pursued the business of natural philosophy in a way characteristic of his roots in the Scottish “improving” tradition that was in tension with Enlightenment sensibilities. As Miller demonstrates, Watt’s accomplishments relied heavily on collaborations, not always acknowledged, with business partners, employees, philosophical friends, and, not least, his wives, children, and wider family. The legend created in his later years and “afterlife” claimed too much of nineteenth-century technology for Watt, but that legend was, and remains, a powerful cultural force.

In the fourth part of The Schliemann Diaries we follow Heinrich Schliemann, the famous 19th century trader, traveller and archaeologist, on his travels through Spain in 1859. The original diary was written mainly in Spanish with a small portion in Arabic. This publication contains an introduction, an English translation and a transcription of the diary. During his third journey to the Orient (1858-1859), Schliemann fell in love with a Canadian girl. Since he was already married, this love was doomed from the start but it made Schliemann far from happy when he returned home to St. Petersburg. He found it impossible to remain with his Russian wife and decided to cheer himself up by taking a trip through Spain.In this diary we see Spain through the eyes of a wealthy tourist who is not afraid of some discomfort. Alongside some melancholy thoughts about his hopeless love for the young Canadian, he keeps his eyes wide open for the attractions of the Spanish girls who are, according to him, the most beautiful in the world.Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) was a shrewd trader and in later life one of the most famous archaeologist of the 19th century. He not only discovered "the legendary city of Troy" and the golden masks of Mycenae, but was also a pioneer in the prehistoric archaeology of Turkey and Greece. Before he became one of the fathers of Archaeology, he travelled the world and recorded his experiences in several diaries. In this series, all Schliemann's travel diaries will be made available to a wider public by means of a transcription, an English translation and an introduction. These publications will present a new image of the trader, traveller and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and the world in which he lived.

In the 17th and 18th century well over a million men and a few thousand women made the long journey oversees to one of the many Dutch colonies of the Dutch East India Company or West India Company. How did these people live in the colonies, what do we know about their opinions on these exotic regions, what was their view of the local inhabitants? Were these travelers immigrants that were interested in other cultures? Did they understand the foreign religions and customs? Or were these people simply interested in trading and profit, every man for himself?This richly illustrated volume contains many interesting articles (in Dutch) about how the Dutch lived with and among the local inhabitants of the various Dutch colonies.In de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw hebben meer dan een miljoen mannen en een paar duizend vrouwen de verre reis gemaakt naar de koloniale vestigingen van de VOC en WIC. Hoe leefden ze daar en wat weten we eigenlijk van hun opvattingen over de exotische streken waar ze vertoefden? Hoe keken zij naar de mensen die zij ‘aan de overkant’ ontmoetten? Waren deze reizigers en emigranten geïnteresseerd in andere culturen? Begrepen zij iets van de andere religies, gewoonten en samenlevingen waarin zij terechtkwamen? Of ging het hen alleen maar om het najagen van het eigenbelang voor hun bazen of voor zichzelf.De Nederlanders die we in de bronnen tegenkomen brachten hun eigen opvattingen, ja, begrijpelijkerwijs, hun cultuur- en groepsgebonden oordelen mee. Die klinken vaak door in denigrerende of jaloerse opmerkingen. Maar gelukkig zijn er ook voorbeelden van waardering en samenwerking: plaatselijke informanten speelden bijvoorbeeld een belangrijke rol in de overdracht van kennis van andere culturen.Deze bundel levert een kostelijke verzameling verhalen op over de vraag hoe Nederlanders en ‘zij die aan de overkant leefden’ over en weer naar elkaar keken en elkaar de maat namen.