Add MS 5232

Maps and drawings of views, antiquities and plants relating to Engelbert Kaempfer's (1651-1716) travels through Russia, the Persian Empire and Japan. Kaempfer was a German doctor, naturalist and physician who travelled to the Persian Empire as part of a Swedish embassy and was subsequently appointed physician of the Dutch East India Company, in which capacity he travelled to Japan. This manuscript also includes copies by J. G. Scheuchzer of maps, views, natural history drawings for Kaempfer's posthumous publication, The History of Japan. Most of the drawings were printed in the Kaempfer's Amoenitatum Exoticarum Fasciculi V (Lemgov, 1712) and in Scheuchzer’s translation and edition of Kampfer’s History of Japan (London, 1727).

Related to the drawings and notes in Add MS 5232 are: Sloane MS 3060, the manuscript version of Kaempfer’s History of Japan; Add MS 5252, a series of works on paper collected by Kaempfer in Japan; Add MS 2907, 2910 and 2912, which contain miscellaneous notes relating to Kaempfer’s travels across Asia and Russia.

All drawings and notes are executed on paper or parchment and pasted on the folios of the album. An item-by-item description was provided in the 19th century catalogue of Additional Manuscripts, a bibliographic reference to which is provided below.

Summary description of contents:

1-2. Two pen and ink and wash views of the city of Stockholm made between 1715 and 1725, signed ‘J[ohn] Fayram delin.’

3-28. Pen and ink and wash sketches of towns and copiously annotated maps of locations in Russia.

29-30. Pen and ink and watercolour sketches of monuments, later printed in Kaempfer’s Amoenitatum Exoticarum (Lemgov, 1712). 32. Ink and grey wash view of ‘The Great Mesczit at Casbin’, signed ‘cm delin. a Kampferi planographia’.

33-35. Pen and brown ink drawing of bridges in Ispahan [Isfahan], printed in Kaempfer’s Amoenitatum Exoticarum (Lemgov, 1712).

36-37. Pen and brown ink drawings of a palace, printed in Kaempfer’s Amoenitatum Exoticarum (Lemgov, 1712).

46-52. Pen and brown ink drawings of plans and monuments at Persepolis [Takht-e Jamshid, present-day Iran], printed in or related to plates in Kaempfer’s Amoenitatum Exoticarum (Lemgov, 1712).

76-77. Pen in black ink drawings of the ruins at Persepolis [Takht-e Jamshid, present-day Iran].

78. Drawing of the mode of cultivating the Palm tree, in Persia, related to a plate in Kaempfer’s Amoenitatum Exoticarum (Lemgov, 1712).

79. Pen and ink drawing representing the method of collection the juice of the Asafoetida, related to a plate in Kaempfer’s Amoenitatum Exoticarum (Lemgov, 1712).

80-102. Pen and ink and pencil drawings of various parts of the palm tree, with inscriptions in Latin. 103. A pencil and ink sketch preparatory for the the frontispiece to Kaemper’s History of Japan (London, 1727).

104-106. Watercolour drawings on parchment showing various details of the palm tree.

107. Engraved plate based on the same drawings of the palm tree, published in Kaempfer’s Amoenitatum Exoticarum (Lemgov, 1712). 108. Chart of the Persian Gulf, and adjacent country with inscriptions in Dutch.

112. Plan of the Castle of Kismis, in the Persian Gulf with inscriptions in Dutch.

113, 115-118. Pencil and pen and ink sketches accompanied by inscriptions of a torpedo, caught in the Persian Gulf, related to in Kaempfer’s Amoenitatum Exoticarum (Lemgov, 1712).

121, 123-124. Red chalk drawings of the profile of the islands of Amsterdam and St Paul, as seen from the ship Willem Hendrick travelling in the direction of Batavia, inscribed in Dutch and dated 1683.

125, 127-128. Charts of Robbeneiland, and Dassen Island (both islands of South Africa), with inscriptions in Dutch. Similar charts of the same islands are in Add MS 5027 A.

129-133, 135, 137. Pencil drawings of Siamese boats and temples [Siam, historical denomination for Thailand], related to plates engraved in Kaempfer’s History of Japan, Vol. 1.

138-149. Alphabets in various languages, including Arabic and Russian.

151-159. Pen and ink drawings of temples, palaces and other monuments seen in Siam [Thailand], related to plates engraved in Kaempfer’s History of Japan, Vol. 1.

161-164. Maps illustrating Kaempfer’s itinerary and places he visited, related to plates engraved in Kaempfer’s History of Japan, Vol. 1. 165-168. Pencil drawings of various Japanese plants, related to plates engraved in Kaempfer’s History of Japan, Vol. 1.

169. ‘Acupunctura japonum’. Pencil drawing showing the Japanese practice of needle-pricking, preparatory for a correspondent plate in Kaempfer’s History of Japan.

172-215. Pen and pencil drawings of animals, all related to plates engraved in Kaempfer’s History of Japan.

216-217. Two tables with characters of the Japanese and Chinese elements, and celestial signs related to plates engraved in Kaempfer’s History of Japan.2

18. A lmanuscript ist of the names of the emperors of China mentioned in Kaempfer’s History of Japan.

221-222. Maps illustrating parts of of Kaempfer’s journey in Japan, related to plates engraved in Kaempfer’s History of Japan.

226-227. Pencil drawings of figures in traditional costumes described in accompanying inscriptions in Dutch as ‘Persians’.

231. Drawings of Japanese coins of copper and gold, related to a plate engraved in Kaempfer’s History of Japan, vol. 2.