Lot 1204
1204
MARITIME HISTORY - TRAVELLING -- JAPAN -- THUNBERG, C.P. Voyages au Japon, Par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance, les îles de la Sonde, &c. Trad. p. L. Langles. Par., B. Dandré, Garnery & Obré, 1796. 4 vols. 4, lxiv, 417, (1); viii, (2), 430; viii, 445; viii, 462 pp. W. front.-portr., & 28 plates (5 fold.). Mod. full leather.
A favourite pupil of Linnaeus, Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828) was sent on a mission to the Cape of Good Hope, Java, Japan and Ceylon on behalf of the Botanical Garden of Amsterdam. Since Japan was only open to Dutch merchants, the Swedish naturalist spent three years in Cape Colony learning Dutch, and making several expeditions into the interior in search of plant specimens, before sailing for Java in March 1775. In August he finally arrived at the Dutch factory of the VOC at Dejima, a small artificial island connected to Nagasaki by a landfill. Besides botany, it also contains chapters on the character and religion of the Japanese, their language and customs, the zoology of Japan, minerals, food, festivals, agriculture, the calendar, science and arts. - Very good set. Cordier, Bibl. Japonica p. 447; Landwehr, VOC, 343.€ 700
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