The lustrum of Bredevoort
By Garmt de Vries.
Bredevoort is an old town in the Achterhoek, near the German border. Since 1993 Bredevoort presents itself as a book town, after the example of Hay-on-Wye in Wales and Redu in Belgium. In August 1998 the book town celebrated its first lustrum. The committe that organized the festival, asked the Dutch Jules Verne Society to set up an exposition and to organize a Jules Verne evening. The Society accepted this invitation, of course. We would also take part in the international book market, with exclusively material by and on Jules Verne. After several months of preparation, the real work could start.
Friday: setting up the exposition
On Thursday and Friday some members of the Society left for Bredevoort, in
cars stuffed with books and other material. Those who came from far would
sleep in tents, caravans or campers. On Friday morning we heard that the
showcases and boards had not yet been put in their place. So we had to do
some heavy work, in the wind and the rain. After a couple of hours we had
carried everything to the place allocated to our exposition, an old school
and a tent on the court. Now we could start to set up the exposition
itself.
We filled showcase after showcase with French editions, including some
valuable first editions, many special and ordinary Dutch editions, all
kinds of foreign translations, biographies and comics. But we had not only
books: also stamps, posters, models, cigar tapes, videos, cd-roms and
countless other items were on show. Some of the most famous books had
their own showcase, other, less common titles were put together. We also
had biographies, advertising material and imitators grouped together.
Further, there was a computer with cd-roms and a video of a film from one
of Verne’s novels was played. It was an overwhelming collection, with some
very special items. If you took your time, you could get a good picture of
Jules Verne and his work. A more superficial view gave at least the
impression that Verne was a many-sided man, and that impression is
correct.
Saturday: The opening
On Saturday morning we finished our exposition; over forty showcases were
waiting for the first visitors. The opening ceremony was a real festivity.
There were guests from book towns all over the world. In the St. Joris
church Jan Terlouw, guardian of Bredevoort Book Town, gave a speech about
‘language and music’. There were speeches by the mayor and other
officials. At four o’clock the festival and the Jules Verne exposition
were officially opened by means of a loud cannon shot, by Richard Booth
and Noël Anselot, founders of the book towns Hay-on-Wye and Redu. In
the court in front of the old school there were more tents, in which book
towns from all over Europe presented themselves.
In spite of the rainy weather there was much interest. Our exposition
attracted many visitors. Most of them had a feeling of recognition when
they saw the old blue covers, and they were impressed by the huge quantity
of books that was exhibited. One or two visitors approached one of the
members of the Society with a question about Jules Verne. Then the
Saturday came to an end and the court became quiet.
Sunday to Tuesday: Exposition
Sunday, 23 August was even busier then the day before. A great many
visitors walk along the showcases en asked questions to the members of the
Society. Each in turn, we found an opportunity to have a look at the other
tents ourselves.
On this day, there was a special attraction: the touring car ‘Jules
Verne’, of the company Maarse & Kroon had come to Bredevoort and could be
visited extensively. This car, built in 1963, was certainly worth seeing:
it is the first Dutch touring car with toilet and bar. The ‘Jules Verne’
is equipped with all kinds of gadgets from that time: air conditioning,
fauteuils de luxe, and a very complete pantry. Unfortunately the bus could
not be parked near our exposition, so it was not immediately clear that it
had something to do with Jules Verne.
On Monday and Tuesday it was more quiet. There were few visitors, but the
visitors we had, came out of interest. So time went by. On Wednesday it was
still as quiet. For the evening we hoped we would have a larger audience: then
we had planned our Jules Verne evening.
Wednesday: Jules Verne evening
The Jules Verne evening consisted of two discourses on Jules Verne and his
work. The first lecture had been prepared by a member of the Society, for
the second lecture we had invited prof. dr. Robert Pourvoyeur. Mr
Pourvoyeur is vice-president of the Société Jules Verne in
Paris, and a great Verne scholar. It was quite an honour that he wanted to
speak for us this evening. Mr Pourvoyeur arrived in the afternoon, in the
pouring rain. We took him on a tour of the exposition, and he was
impressed. After a good meal the evening could begin.
Originally the evening had been planned for an international audience. The
representatives of the other book towns would be there, and we had
prepared our lectures in English. Unfortunately, almost all foreign guests
had left Bredevoort during the day. Wednesday was the last day of the
festival, and they had started breaking down the tents before our Jules
Verne evening had actually started. We decided to switch to a Dutch
evening.
There was quite some attention after all: over sixty people had found a
place in the large tent in which the evening was held. There were members
of the Society, passers-by and some interested people who had come to
Bredevoort especially to attend to these lectures.
The first speech was a global description of the life of Jules Verne: his
youth in Nantes, his studies in Paris, his love of literature and the
first acquintance with Hetzel, the big successes, the disasters of 1886, en
Verne’s death in 1905. Then the meaning of Verne’s work was discussed, as
well as his writing method. All this was illustrated with photos and with
pictures from some of the extraordinary voyages. Also, some words were
said about Jules Verne on the internet.
Next, Robert Pourvoyeur delivered a very interesting discourse on Jules
Verne and music. Besides a profound knowledge of Jules Verne, Mr
Pourvoyeur has a great affection for music, and this combination suited
very well for this evening. Music was important to Jules Verne. He has
said that his great loves were freedom, the sea and music. A lot of music
is to be found in his work. Sometimes, there is an extensive enumeration
of composers, as in L’Ile à hélice,
sometimes music plays a central role, as in
Le Château des Carpathes. Verne has written several operettas
himself, in cooperation with his friend Aristide Hignard. In between the
text of the lecture, some pieces of music were played. Robert Pourvoyeur had
brought a wide variety of music: opera, operetta (Verne’s favourite genre),
marches and even a ‘samba avant la lettre’.
It was a marvellous discourse, not in the last place because of the
enthusiastic way of talking. Verne experts could still learn a lot, and
also the rest of the audience was very interested. In spite of the absence
of the international guests and the noise of people breaking down the
tents, it was a really successful evening.
Saturday: Book market
The exposition was finished and broken down. The festival was over. Yet
there was one big happening waiting: the international book market.
On Saturday, 29 August, Bredevoort was flooded with stands. The Dutch Jules
Verne Society had its own stand on this book market. Over three metres of
books and comics, all by or about Jules Verne. All this material was
provided by members of the Society.
Early in the morning, long before the book market was officially open, and
before we had arranged all our books, the first collectors showed up. For
the rest of the day the visitors came and went; it was extremely crowded.
A lot of collectors managed to find some missing title. At the end of the
day, we could make up the balance: we had sold several hundreds of books.
This day proved once more that Jules Verne’s popularity still has not
decreased.
We can look back at a successful happening. It was fun for us to organize this week, and we have been able to add to the knowledge of the general public about Jules Verne.
