oa Paradijsvogels en zeemensen - Dieren als retorisch construct in François Valentyns natuurhistorie van Amboina

François Valentyn (1666-1727) was a Dutch Calvinist clergyman and author of Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën (Old and New East Indies, 1724-1726), which was one of the most comprehensive books about Asia published in the eighteenth century. In the section on Amboina, Valentyn devotes a large part of his text to natural history. From the selection of his material it is clear that his text is aimed at a public of amateurs, while he at the same time presents himself as an amateur natural historian. This attitude resulted in special attention to topics with a problematic epistemological status, such as sea people and birds of paradise. This article examines in particular the way Valentyn justifies his stance on these topics, and analyses his position within eighteenth-century discourse on natural history.