In the introduction, the author offers some important contextual information about Amsterdam. Given its size as the third-largest city in Europe during the seventeenth century, it is perhaps not surprising that prostitution was flourishing in this prospering metropolis. Van de Pol identifies the following factors as stimulating demand and supply: the city held a significant draw for immigrants, merchants and tourists; it was a trading and transport hub; it was a site where thousands of sailors signed up or were discharged; and there was ‘a large surplus of women among the common people, including many poor immigrants with little prospect of marriage’ (p. 3). She goes onto provide a useful account of the various contemporary meanings of terms such as ‘prostitute’, ‘whore’, ‘whoring’ and ‘whoredom’ and points to the ‘semantic shift in emphasis’ during the period ‘away from illicit sexual acts as improper moral behaviour towards prostitution as a livelihood’ (p. 6).