[Japan] Kaempfer, E. Histoire naturelle, civile, et ecclesiastique de l'empire du Japon

French transl. by J.-G. Scheuzer. Ouvrage enrichie des plans & des cartes nécessaires. The Hague, P. Gosse and J. Neaulme, 1732, 3 vols., (2),LXX,(2),312; (6),416; (4),379,(17) p., w. engr. frontisp., 13 large fold. engr. maps and plans, cont. unif. calf, gilt spines w. mor. letterpieces, 12mo in 8vo size. Apart from some sm. defects and signs of age, a very good copy.

Engelbrecht Kämpfer (1651-1716), German traveller and physician, was the secretary to the embassy which Charles XI sent through Russia and Persia in 1683. In 1684 he arrived in Isfahan, then the Persian capital. In 1685 he joined the fleet of the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) in the Persian Gulf as chief surgeon. After short stays in Arabia and India, he arrived in Batavia in 1689 where he studied Javanese natural history. In May 1690 he set out for Japan as physician to the Dutch embassy. Upon his death the unpublished manuscripts were purchased by Sir Hans Sloane and conveyed to England. Among them was his History of Japan, translated from the manuscript by J.G. Scheuchzer and published at London in 1727. The original German version has never been published. The first French edition appeared in 1729, the present one is the second 12mo edition (first 1731). Tiele 585; Chadenat 1884; Cordier 417; Landwehr, VOC, 533 (ed. H. Uytwerf). (total 3)