In Ruud de Wild, songbook, the radio producer and artist Ruud de Wild sets out on a journey through the rich history of the Dutch song. This search takes him past century-old manuscripts, early printed songbooks, simple song leaflets and sheet music. He made a personal selection from the many thousands of songs. Most of us don’t know the history of Dutch songs before the early twentieth century. No recordings have been preserved from before that time. However, the origin of the Dutch song lies hidden in the hand-written and printed books in our libraries.