author
W. L. H. Köster Henke
Best known for an early Dutch guide to criminal slang, this writer brought a policeman’s eye for detail to the hidden language of the street. His work still stands out as a vivid window into Dutch police life and underworld speech.
1 Audiobook
De Boeventaal Zakwoordenboekje van het Bargoensch, of De taal van de jongens van de vlakte
by W. L. H. Köster Henke
About the author
W. L. H. Köster Henke, also known as Willem Lodewijk Hendrik Köster Henke, was a Dutch writer remembered mainly for De Boeventaal, a compact dictionary of Bargoens, the slang associated with the Dutch underworld. The book’s appeal comes from its practical, observant tone and from the sense that it was written by someone close to the world he described.
Available catalog and library records also connect him with police work and legal reference writing. He is credited with Herinneringen uit mijn politie-loopbaan and with annotated editions of the Dutch penal code prepared for police use, which helps explain the sharp, experience-based voice readers notice in his work.
Older bibliographic sources also identify him as the first Dutch translator of Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, showing a career that reached beyond police writing into literary translation. Even though biographical details about his personal life are limited online, the surviving record suggests a versatile author whose books joined everyday professional knowledge with a lasting curiosity about language.