An important part of the Dutch national treasure of early printed books from before 1801 on military and related subjects is kept in military libraries and collections. This catalogue contains 10,000 books in twelve different languages dated 1500–1800 from nine different Defence institutions/collections, representing both Army and Navy. By far the largest collections are the property of the Royal Netherlands Army Museum in Delft and the Royal Netherlands Military Academy in Breda. A great if not substantial part of these books is especially of international significance because of the contents, the intrinsic value or as historical objects. It took eight years to trace and describe these books, all of which have been given extensive analytical bibliographic descriptions. The book includes over 2000 illustrations. The book is a project of the Royal Netherlands Army Museum, Delft

This major study provides the first comprehensive assessment of an important European institution, the Stadholderate of the Dutch Republic. Professor Rowen looks at the career of each Prince of Orange in turn, from William I ('The Silent'), to the last and saddest, William V, examining their roles as Stadholder and interweaving their personal lives and characters with the development of the institution. Without engaging in psycho-history, Rowen treats the individual personality of each Stadholder as a significant factor, and shows how the Stadholderate contributed to a distinctive political and constitutional coloration that rendered the United Provinces unique in Europe. The work assesses the contribution of the Stadholderate to the rise and subsequent fall of the Dutch Republic as one of the great powers of early modern Europe, and analyses each prince within his contemporary context, avoiding the highly present-minded approach of many of the Republic's subsequent historians. The Princes of Orange is thus neither a work of hagiography, glorifying the Dutch royal house, nor a piece of destructive iconoclasm, but an authoritative account of a most unusual political, dynastic and diplomatic institution.