Catalogus van vijftig boeken en boekjes zonder ...

... zonder toestemming uitgegeven in de jaren 1942-1945, door A.A. Balkema te Amsterdam. [A'dam, A.A. Balkema], June 1945, 19 x 11cm, pp. 15; sewn with thread in beige wrappers. With introductory text by Balkema and the catalogue of the books. Printed on Ossekop paper; designed by Jan Van Krimpen. A very good copy. - After studying French literature, August Aimé Balkema (1906-1996) opened 1936 a bookstore in Amsterdam in the "Huis aan de Drie Grachten" (Oudezijds Voorburgwal 249). During the second world war, between 1942-45, while Holland was occupied by the nazis, he also published clandestinely some 50 books (bibliophile, limited editions varying mostly between 50 to 400 copies, which were sold without financial profit), and many of them were typographically designed by his friend, the prominent typographer Jan Van Krimpen. Shortly after the war Balkema sold his bookshop in Amsterdam, left Holland and settled in Cape Town, South Africa, where he became a reknowned publisher of scientific books. - More recently, during renovation works in 2006 in the "Huis aan de Drie Grachten", the archives of this small clandestine press have been discovered there, in a secret hidden place. It is now in institutional hands, in the Universiteitsbibliotheek in Amsterdam.