Looking Back
In 1649, at the age of 74, Leeghwater published a second booklet, Een kleyne Chronycke van Graft en de Ryp. This is a review of the history of both villages based on his own memories and stories that had been told to him by family and relations. He also recorded highlights of his own career in this booklet. De Kleyne Chronycke gained real fame only after Leeghwater died in Amsterdam in early 1650. On January 6, 1654, De Rijp was hit by a very heavy fire. All but the town hall burned down. The Amsterdam publisher Schabaelje then quickly produced a new edition of the Kleyne Chronycke in which he had included his own story about that great fire. Thus was created a topical and dramatic product about the rise and fall of the flourishing De Rijp. That edition, edited by Schabaelje, was reprinted no less than 14 times until 1862.
