In this study, art historian Elizabeth Sutton reads the engravings of Pieter de Marees' Description and Historical Account of the Gold Kingdom of Guinea (1602) as a demonstration of the intertwining domains of the Dutch pictorial tradition, intellectual inquiry and Dutch mercantilism. Sutton examines the book's construction and marketing to shed new light on the social milieus that shared interests in ethnography, trade and travel, ultimately enhancing our understanding of the European imperial enterprise.