Kaempfer, Engelbert | The Dutch edition of Kaempfer’s classic account of Japan

Kaempfer, Engelbert

De Beschryving van Japan, behelsende een Verhaal van den ouden en tegenwoordigen Staat en Regeering van dat Ryk, van deszelfs Tempels, Paleysen, Kasteelen en andere Gebouwen; van deszelfs Metalen, Mineralen, Boomen, Planten, Dieren, Vogelen en Visschen... Amsterdam: Arent van Huyssteen, 1733

Small folio (316 x 206 mm). Half title, title printed in red and black, 11 double-page folding engraved maps, and 37 plates (all but one double-page), woodcut initials and headpieces, printed in double columns, list of illustrations in manuscript at end; lacking frontispiece, one map detached, minor spotting and light marginal soiling. Contemporary blind-stamped vellum, manuscript title on spine; lightly rubbed and soiled.

The Dutch edition of Kaempfer’s monumental history of Japan, one of the most important and detailed early European descriptions of the country, its government, religion, flora, fauna, and customs. The text, based on Kaempfer’s experiences as a physician with the Dutch East India Company in the 1690s, remained the principal Western source on Japan until the nineteenth century.

REFERENCES

Cf. Cordier, Japonica 414–415

PROVENANCE

Christie’s New York, 19 March 1999, lot 87