David Liss - The Coffee Trader: A Novel

Acknowledgments

Novels are by no means solitary pursuits, and this book could never have happened without the help of many wonderful people.

My first and heartiest thanks go to those who offered me their time and knowledge: J. W. Smit, Deby Abram, Henk Reitsma, Harko Keijzer, and the staff of the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam. I cannot sufficiently thank Rienk Tychon, Thille Dop, and everyone at the offices of Uitgeverij Luitingh-Sijthoff, who made my research in the Netherlands infinitely more productive and enjoyable. Samantha Heller and Sue Laizik read early versions of the novel, and their suggestions were invaluable.

Once again, I am in debt to the people at Random House, particularly Dennis Ambrose, Robbin Schiff, and, of course, my editor Jonathan Karp, whose guidance, enthusiasm, and superhuman editing make my work so much more manageable. And I am eternally grateful to my agent, Liz Darhansoff, and everyone at Darhansoff, Verrill and Feldman for their ceaseless efforts.

It would be impossible to catalog the reasons I am indebted to my friends and familythe support, the enthusiasm, and, perhaps most important, the willingness to listen while I thought out loud. Still, I must point out that this book owes a great deal to the kindness, patience, as well as the sometimes smarting honesty of my wife, Claudia Stokes. Thanks for making me do that rewrite. Our daughter, Eleanor, provided unceasing inspiration with her silliness and inexhaustible supply of good cheer. She motivated me in a thousand ways on a thousand occasions. And Im grateful to Tiki, the orange foundling, for showing up at just the right time.

ALSO BY

DAVID LISS

A Conspiracy of Paper

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVID LISS is the author of A Conspiracy of Paper, winner of the 2000 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. He has a graduate degree in English literature from Columbia University. He holds an M.A. degree from Georgia State University and a B.S. degree from Syracuse University. He lives in San Antonio with his wife and daughter and can be reached via his website, www.davidliss.com.

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Historical Note

If business and commerce in the Dutch golden age conjure up any image for most people today, it is that of the trade in paintings, which were regarded mostly as aesthetically pleasing commodities rather than objects of art, or of the tulipomania, the crazed tulip market of the 1630s, which was so recently mirrored in our own dotcom bubble. I was drawn to business in the period, however, because of its sheer innovation. If it would be overstating the case to say that business as we know it came into being in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, it would be fair to propose that modern business saw its origins in that time and place. The Dutch developed new methods of tradethe joint stock company, commodities markets, futures, stocks, and other forms of speculative tradingmostly because they had to. Coming out of a bitter and protracted war of independence against Spain, the Dutch of the seventeenth century found themselves with very little of any particular value other than their business sense, and with this commercial drive they transformed their nation into one of the most powerful in Europe.