A great many people worked on the preliminary research and on the production of this web edition, and many more made important contributions in countless ways. Over and above those mentioned in the Director’s foreword, who were instrumental in creating this edition of the Van Gogh letters, the editors wish to thank the following people for their enthusiasm, dedication and support, and for their indispensable contributions in highly diverse fields, each from their own perspective.

The editors were supported in their research by Elly Cassee (1994-1998), Wouter van der Veen (1999-2000) and Chris Stolwijk (2000-2001).

Our thanks go to the members of the steering committee: Professor R. de Leeuw, J. Leighton, A. Rüger, S. van Heugten and Dr C. Stolwijk in the Van Gogh Museum; Professor H.T.M. van Vliet, Dr H. Wals and Professor A. Kets-Vree in the Huygens Institute; and the members of the editorial board: Professor M. van Buuren, Dr R. Dorn, Professor R.E.O. Ekkart, Emeritus Professor J.D.F. van Halsema, Dr L. van Tilborgh and Emeritus Professor E. van Uitert.

We were always able to call upon the Vincent van Gogh Foundation for help and we are deeply grateful to the members of its board, and to Han Veenenbos, secretary of the Foundation, for the generous support we received from them.

We thank Monique Hageman, Mirjam Koelewijn, Harold Konickx and Renske Suijver for their valuable support in the research and in the preparation of the print and web editions.

Angeline Biesheuvel, Peter Bosman, Nienke de Bruijn, Niki de Bruin, Tin Lok Chan, Steven Claeyssens, Gaston Franssen, Mariëlle van Gelderen, Jeroen Hendriks, Simonka de Jong, Harold Konickx, Melanie Kooyman, Andrea van Leerdam, Willemijn Lindenhovius, Susanne Lorenz, Sacha Mols, Anneleen Post, Marielle Rebel, Carolien Schouten, Marcia Schouten, Elisabeth Veenstra and Sietske van Zanten, all students on work placement, assisted us with boundless enthusiasm.

We thank all the staff of the Van Gogh Museum for their unstinting help and immense dedication over the last few years, particularly our present directors Axel Rüger and Rik van Koetsveld, and Joost van Aalderen, Jacob de Baan, Edwin Becker, Marijke Blankman, Martine Blok, Suzanne Bogman, René Boitelle, Natalie Bos, Patricia Bosboom, Geeta Bruin, Isolde Cael, Frédérique Haanen, Ella Hendriks, Esther Hoofwijk, Brian Kerkhoven, Bob Konijn, Geri Klazema, Corine Mennink, Alex Nikken, Rianne Norbart, Devi Ormond, Fieke Pabst, Marianne Peereboom, Maaike Postmus, Jacqueline Rutten, Edith Schreurs, Patricia Schuil, Frans Stive, Serge Taal, Heidi Vandamme, Anita Vriend, Nienke Witte, Johan Worrell and Roelie Zwikker, and our colleagues at Van Gogh Museum Enterprises, Josette van Gemert, Mariëlle Gerritsen, Ellen Jansen, Cor Krelekamp, Marije Wissink and Melchert Zwetsman. A special word of thanks goes to Louis van Tilborgh and Marije Vellekoop for their editorial support and assistance in correcting the images.

Peter Boot, Bram Buitendijk, Karina van Dalen-Oskam, Bas Doppen, Ronald Haentjens Dekker, Connie Klützow, Meindert Kroese, Ramona Land and Joris van Zundert of the Huygens Institute gave us generous and indispensable support.They succeeded in integrating many thousands of text and image files and giving them the necessary functionality. Letter texts in different versions, annotations, commentaries and illustrations combine to form a network of multifarious information on several levels. The web edition supplied by the e-research department of the Huygens Institute is the best possible way of putting that material at the user’s disposal. Design agency Zeezeilen provided the site with an elegant and intuitive design.

Thanks, too, to the staff of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, particularly Charles E. Pearce Jr, Rhoda Eitel-Porter, Jennifer Tonkovich, Margaret Holben Ellis, Karen Banks and Patricia Emerson, for their help in researching and publishing Van Gogh’s letters to Emile Bernard. Our gratitude also goes to the Fondation Custodia in Paris, especially Hans Buijs.

For assistance in answering the most diverse questions we were able to call upon Martin Bailey, Pieter Biesboer, Richard Bionda, Thierry Bodin, Saskia de Bodt, R. de Boer, Annette Bourrut Lacouture, Yvon Brohez, Hans Bronkhorst, David Brooks, Ton de Brouwer, J. Buisman, Gerhard C. Cadée, K. Cameron, Leslie Carlyle, Elizabeth C. Childs, Dieuwertje Dekkers, Wout Dijk, D.S. van Dorsser Keus, H.F. van Dorsser Keus-De Zwart, Ann Dumas, Donato Esposito, F.W.G. Eversteijn, Walter Feilchenfeldt, Marina Ferretti, K.J. Fielding, Maryvonne Grandfils, L. le Guillou, Marcel Hanssens, Koos Havelaar, Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, Liesbeth Heenk, Erik Hennekam, M. den Hollander, P.N. Holtrop, Bridget Howlett, Jan Hulsker (†), Alphons Jaakke, Dominique Janssens, Laurence B. Kanter, Cor Kerstens, W. de Keyzer, Jan Kiviet, Tsukasa Kodera, David Kresh, David Lee, Fred Leeman, Francina Lhoste, A.P. van der Linden, Waltraud Linder-Beroud, Nico Lingbeek, Ger Luijten, Liede Maas, Marsha Malinowski, Leo van Maris, Michel Martinez, Teio Meedendorp, Victor Merlhès, Rev. John William Morgan, Alexandra R. Murphy, A. Nelemans, Hans den Nijs, Monique Nonne, Hans van Oosterom, J. Pasveer, Ronald Pickvance, Bodo Plachta, Arlette Playoust, Johan Poort, Henk Porck, Maxime Préaud, Pierre-Lin Renié, Ineke Ris, Martin Royalton Kisch, J.F. Seijlhouwer, Aaron Sheon, Robert Smallwood, Jan Smelik, D. Smits, Anne-Marie Springer, Susan Alyson Stein, Rev. Penny Clare Stephens, Isabelle Taudière, Belinda Thomson, Herwig Todts, Joke Valentijn, Rev. John Martin Vanderlure Willmington, Vincent Vanhamme, Natascha Veldhorst, Annemarie Vels Heijn, Aukje Vergeest, Robert Verhoogt, P.H.A. Voskuil, K. Wauters, Gabriel P. Weisberg, Michael Wentworth, Ernst van de Wetering and Jos Zijlstra.

Bureau Metamorfoze in The Hague was responsible for digitizing the whole letters collection. The painstaking colour correction of these images was done by Maurice Tromp of Kleurgamma. Thijs Quispel photographed the works in the museum collection.

We consider ourselves fortunate in having had a very dedicated group of translators as members of our team; their patience, loyalty and staying power never failed to astonish us. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Michael Hoyle, Diane Webb, John Rudge, Lynne Richards, Imogen Forster and Sue Dyson.

Special thanks are due to Michael Raeburn, Paul van Calster, Philip Watson, Catherine Blake and Cécile Krings for their unsurpassed editorial work on the book edition, from which the web edition also greatly benefited.

The printers of the book edition, Die Keure in Bruges, made a magnificent job of the colour separations, and our special thanks go to Dirk Libeer, Frank Libeer, Jan van Zwam, Liesbeth Matthijs, Anja Delaere and Bart Spriet.

We should also like to acknowledge the generous cooperation we received from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (The Hague); the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD, The Hague); the Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo); the Rijksprentenkabinet and the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam); the Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap (Haarlem); the Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (KNMI, De Bilt); the AMVC-Letterenhuis (Antwerp); Bibliothèque Nationale de France – Cabinet des Estampes (Paris); Musée d’Orsay (Paris); Musée Goupil (Bordeaux); Club d’histoire locale de Courrières; the British Library (London); the British Museum (London); the Dutch university libraries; numerous museums, archives, libraries, auction houses (particularly Christie’s and Sotheby’s), art dealers and gallery owners in the Netherlands and beyond.

The editors
Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker


October 2009