Kaempfer | The history of Japan, 1727, 2 volumes

BOOKS FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE EARLS OF HADDINGTON, LOTS 54-108

KAEMPFER, ENGELBERT

The history of Japan. London: printed for the translator, 1727

First English edition, first issue, 2 volumes, folio (350 x 220mm.), engraved additional title, printed titles in red and black, list of subscribers, 45 engraved plates and maps, mostly folding, contemporary mottled calf, spines rubbed and lacking labels

"[Kaempfer's] History of Japan was for more than a century the chief source of Western knowledge of the country. It contains the first biography of Kaempfer, an account of his journey, a history and description of Japan and its fauna, a description of Nagasaki and Deshima; a report on two embassies to Edo with a description of the cities which were visited on the way; and six appendices, on tea, Japanese paper, acupuncture, moxa, ambergris, and Japan's seclusion policy" (DSB).

LITERATURE:

Cordier, Japonica 414-415

PROVENANCE:

George Baillie (1664–1738), engraved armorial bookplate