The Foundation for the Promotion of the Translation of Dutch Literary Works (De Stichting tot Bevordering van de Vertaling van Nederlands Letterkundig Werk), hereafter called The Foundation, was a state-funded, quasi-governmental organization established to oversee the translation of over 700 Dutch literary works into a variety of languages until 1989. It constituted the first steps in professionalizing and institutionalizing a Dutch literary foreign policy. The Foundation was established in 1954 under the initiative of Hendrik Jan Reinink, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Sciences, in cooperation with four agencies: Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde (The Dutch Literature Society), Vereniging van Letterkundigen (The Literature Association), Nederlandsche Uitgeversbond (the Dutch Publishing Association) and PEN Club Netherlands.
The Foundation's principal aims, as stated in the charter, were to promote Dutch literature abroad by establishing contacts with Dutch and foreign publishing companies and academics, raising awareness of Dutch literature abroad and creating a portfolio of sample translations. In a statement of their raison d’etre in Stichting Ter Bevordering Van De Vertaling Van Nederlands Letterkundig Werk, they attempt to account for the obscurity of Dutch literature outside the Netherlands. They acknowledge that the language barrier is a factor, but note that Dutch science has succeeded in crossing linguistic frontiers and that literatures of other small countries enjoy greater fame than Dutch letters. They contend that many works would interest readers outside the Netherlands because they shed light on a relatively littleknown side of European life. They conclude by stating:
There is no point in speculating about the reasons for this obscurity. It is better to examine whether and how this situation may be changed. This is precisely the aim which the Foundation is setting itself. It wants to do everything in its power to enable the foreign reader (and thus first and foremost the publisher) to acquaint himself with Dutch literature. (Stichting Ter Bevordering Van De Vertaling Van Nederlands Letterkundig Werk, n.d.)
One of The Foundation's first key projects was the development of a series of Dutch imaginative works translated into English, eventually called Bibliotheca Neerlandica, that would implicitly redress the imbalance in the international reception of Dutch literature and its fine-art counterpart in the Dutch Golden Age of painting.
