![Wybrand Hendriks - Portret van Adriaan Loosjes 1796](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Wybrand_Hendriks_-_Portret_van_Adriaan_Loosjes_1796.jpg)
Adriaan Loosjes (1761, in
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...
– 1818, in
Haarlem), was a 19th-century
botanist,
poet, novelist and publisher born in Den Hoorn, North Holland, Netherlands.
Biography
He came from a family of Mennonite ministers and was an active member of the
Doopsgezinde kerk, Haarlem, where he started his first literary society in 1777, ''Honos alit artes''.
[De verborgen wereld van Democriet: Een kolderiek en dichtlievend genootschap te Haarlem 1789-1869, by Bert Sliggers, 1995, Schuyt & Co.,
] In 1779 he started another one called ''Vlijt moeder der Wetenschappen'' that began to annually announce contests with a prize similar to the
Teylers Eerste Genootschap
Teylers Eerste Genootschap (English: ''Teyler's First Society''), also known as the Godgeleerd Genootschap (''Theological Society'') is one of the societies founded within the Teylers Stichting as a result of the will of the Dutch 18th-century m ...
that was founded the year before.
[ In 1782 these two societies were merged and also began to produce plays, which Loosjes wrote, acted, and published himself, becoming a Haarlem bookseller. In the same year Jan van Walré joined to become an actor, and under his influence, in 1785 the society was reinvented as the theater society ''Leerzaam vermaak'' with a strong Patriotic bias with Loosjes and Walré the leaders.][ When the House of Orange briefly enjoyed a ''contrarevolution'', Leerzaam vermaak was banned, and Loosjes decided to avoid politics and relinquished his official roles in the group, spending his time on scientific and writing pursuits. In 1789 he started the Haarlem scientific society Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen. To continue with his comedies, he began the society Democriet in the same year with the remark ''Because ]Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire.
Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrot ...
had to cry, Democritus
Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. No ...
had to laugh''. In 1790 Walré joined, who again added political color, despite Loosjes' intentions to remain neutral.[ In 1795 when the French occupation began, the activities of Democriet reached their peak, and after that moment the society began to show similarities with freemasonry.][
Loosjes wrote several books and plays, and translated historical works from English into Dutch. He succeeded his father Petrus Loosjes as a member of ]Teylers Eerste Genootschap
Teylers Eerste Genootschap (English: ''Teyler's First Society''), also known as the Godgeleerd Genootschap (''Theological Society'') is one of the societies founded within the Teylers Stichting as a result of the will of the Dutch 18th-century m ...
from 1813 until his own death in 1818. His son Vincent Loosjes continued his publishing business.
File:Christelijke gezangen en liederen - Haarlem - van Walré, Bohn en Loosjes - 1804.png, Songbook published in 1804 with 74 lyrics by Aagje Deken and preface signed by father and son Loosjes
References
Author page
in the DBNL
Books by Adriaan Loosjes
on the Google Books Library Project
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Loosjes, Adriaan
1761 births
1818 deaths
Dutch male writers
Members of Teylers Eerste Genootschap
Scientists from Haarlem
18th-century Dutch writers
18th-century male writers
19th-century Dutch botanists
19th-century Dutch poets
18th-century Dutch poets
19th-century Dutch male writers
18th-century Dutch botanists