Haarlem Lake Book
In Amsterdam, Leeghwater also attempted to get a new large land reclamation project off the ground. This was the Haarlemmermeer. From 1615 onwards, one plan after another was launched to drain this enormous lake between Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Leiden. Leeghwater worked on this project from 1629 onwards. In 1641, he published his famous Haerlemmer-Meer-boeck (Haarlemmermeer Book). It was an appealing and passionate plea to finally get started. Naturally, Leeghwater hoped to earn a good living from this. Like any skilled project developer, he smoothly overcame all kinds of difficulties and his budget was very optimistic. The Haerlemmer-Meer-Boeck was reprinted three times during Leeghwater's lifetime, but unfortunately it did not lead to the result he desired. This did not detract from the popularity of the book, which was reprinted 11 more times until 1838.
