The present volume, number 15 of the Acta Historiae Neerlandicae - which have been appearing since 1978 under the title The Low Countries History Yearbook - is the last of the series. Economic reasons force the publishers to discontinue it. This is a matter for regret. Both the editors of the Yearbook and the board of the Nederlands Historisch Genootschap, under the auspices of which it has been published, are con vinced that the books serve a useful purpose. We hope that in the future more favour able circumstances will enable Dutch and Flemish historians to start a second series. We feel, however, that the Yearbook should not be allowed to disappear com pletely. In our opinion, one of its most attractive features has been the 'Survey of recent historical works on Belgium and the Netherlands published in Dutch.' It is the intention of the Nederlands Historisch Genootschal'. to seek means to continue this in another form, probably in that of pamphlets appearing every two years and written by the same, or a similar, group of experts. In that way we may be able to provide a useful service to our colleagues abroad.

The present volume, number 15 of the Acta Historiae Neerlandicae - which have been appearing since 1978 under the title The Low Countries History Yearbook - is the last of the series. Economic reasons force the publishers to discontinue it. This is a matter for regret. Both the editors of the Yearbook and the board of the Nederlands Historisch Genootschap, under the auspices of which it has been published, are con vinced that the books serve a useful purpose. We hope that in the future more favour able circumstances will enable Dutch and Flemish historians to start a second series. We feel, however, that the Yearbook should not be allowed to disappear com pletely. In our opinion, one of its most attractive features has been the 'Survey of recent historical works on Belgium and the Netherlands published in Dutch.' It is the intention of the Nederlands Historisch Genootschal'. to seek means to continue this in another form, probably in that of pamphlets appearing every two years and written by the same, or a similar, group of experts. In that way we may be able to provide a useful service to our colleagues abroad.

State Communication and Public Politics in the Dutch Golden Age describes the political communication practices of the authorities in the early modern Netherlands. Der Weduwen provides an in-depth study of early modern state communication: the manner in which government sought to inform its citizens, publicise its laws, and engage publicly in quarrels with political opponents. These communication strategies, including proclamations, the use of town criers, and the printing and affixing of hundreds of thousands of edicts, underpinned the political stability of the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. Based on systematic research in thirty-two Dutch archives, this book demonstrates for the first time how the wealthiest, most literate, and most politically participatory state of early modern Europe was shaped by the communication of political information. It makes a decisive case for the importance of communication to the relationship between rulers and ruled, and the extent to which early modern authorities relied on the active consent of their subjects to legitimise their government.

This bibliographical guide contains 10,000 references to the economic and social history of 30 European countries during the period 1700-1939. More than 3000 periodicals have been consulted to obtain references, as well as books, edited collections and conference proceedings. The information is listed in categories such as industry, agriculture, finance, migration, labour conditions, urban communities and organizations. Full publication details are included, so that references may be located easily.