De Jure Praedae remained unpublished during Hugo de Groot’s lifetime, except for chapter eleven, that deals with freedom of access to the ocean, Mare Liberum, first published in 1609. This chapter is written in two separate gatherings, nrs 6 and 7, whereas the other chapters seem written irrespective of the textblock structure. The second gathering, containing chapter three to five, have particular damage in the bottom margin close to the spine, caused by rodents. Most likely, mice have gnawed away at the paper to gather soft tissue for their nest. As the rest of the textblock does not have this damage, it tells us that these folios were once elsewhere.
[5 Detail of the rodent damage]
We decided not to fill in the missing paper, so that this particular phenomenon is immediately apparent and distinguishes the text of these three chapters also physically from the rest. Its condition may indicate it was written or kept in a different place than the other chapters and only added to the volume later on.
The textblock was laced into a non-adhesive conservation binding, which is made of durable materials. The old binding has been stored away together with the treatment documentation. The final image shows the old and the new binding.
[6 Structure of the manuscript]
[7 The old and the new binding]