It's certainly not an old wives' tale that Winters used to be colder. The period between 1550 and 1850 was marked by extraordinarily cold Winters and relatively cool Summers, and is even known in the meteorlogical history of Northwestern Europe as the Little Ice Age. The Dutch Golden Age fell in the middle of this period. The image of the Cold Dutch Winter has been immortalised in the attractive ice scenes painted by Hendrick Avercamp and his contemporaries. "Holland Frozen in Time"' is the first publication in a long time which offers an overview of this typically Dutch phenomenon. In addition the art-historical aspects, treats, various Winter pleasures engaged in on the ice, the role played by Winter in seventeenth-century literature, and of course the climatic conditions prevailing at that time are explained. Finally, there is an account of the fascinating early history of the Winter landscape, from mediaeval illuminated manuscripts via the Winter scenes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder to the beginning of the seventeenth century.