Like Howell's photos of Iceland, Jacob Olie's photos of Amsterdam have caught attention when they were first discovered. In 1959, around 4,000 glass negatives were found at the attic of Olie's daughter. The Amsterdam City Archives acquired the collection and in 1960, the Amstelodamum Society issued a special yearbook with around 200 photos. In the 1970s, a further book was released by Van Gennep: Jacob Olie: Amsterdam Gefotografeerd 1860-1905; I obtained a copy of the third print (1974) via Ebay. In February 2000, the Amsterdam City Archives staged a grand exhibition of Olie's work. Despite efforts to protect the vulnerable glass negatives and make professional duplicates of them for prints, the ACA did not take the trouble, though, to clean up the digital scans that were made later. Dust, scratches, tears and stains spoil the pleasure of viewing Olie's grandiose captures; details are drowned in the darker areas, corners of the images are cut off. By now, I have restored a series of ca. 60 of his most interesting photos, and collected another 120 images to choose further pictures from. The aim of my book project is not to present new academic insights into Olie's life and work methods, but to introduce his city views to an international public, with an introduction and captions in Dutch, English, and German; a French translation can also be added.

An impression of the images can be gathered from the slideshow above; please note that the images are cropped horizontally or vertically, depending on the screen you use. If you would be interested to sell this project to a publisher, please send me a message.