The correspondence of Jan Daniël Huichelbos van Liender with James Watt

Close reading of the letters also yielded particulars about Van Liender¿¿¿¿s life and environment, improving somewhat on the scant knowledge about individuals like J.Hope and R.L.Brouwer and their Heemstede engine, and adding (albeit slightly) to the knowledge of the exploits of W.Blakey. It pointed the way to the extensive notarial records in the Rotterdam Municipal Archive, which yielded many more details. Van Liender thus became much more than just a Rotterdam merchant. Most of the correspondence consists of discussion of engineering details with excursions into other, sometimes personal and political areas.