Engelbert Kaempfer - Manuscripts

Manuscripts

At Kaempfer's death his mostly unpublished manuscripts were purchased by Sir Hans Sloane, and conveyed to England. Among them was a History of Japan, translated from the manuscript into English by Sloane's librarian John Gaspar Scheuchzer (1702–1729) and published at London, in 2 vols., in 1727. The original German ("Heutiges Japan", Japan of Today) had not been published, the extant German version being taken from the English. Besides Japanese history, this book contains a description of the political, social and physical state of the country in the 17th century. For upwards of a hundred years it remained the chief source of information for the general reader, and is still not wholly obsolete. A life of the author is prefixed to the History. Kaempfer's original manuscripts are currently kept in the British Library. Most of them have been published since 2001:

Engelbert Kaempfer, Werke. Kritische Ausgabe in Einzelbänden. Herausgegeben von Detlef Haberland, Wolfgang Michel, Elisabeth Gössmann.

• Vol 1/1 Engelbert Kaempfer: Heutiges Japan. Herausgegeben von Wolfgang Michel und Barend J. Terwiel. 2001.
• Vol 1/2 Engelbert Kaempfer: Heutiges Japan. Herausgegeben von Wolfgang Michel und Barend J. Terwiel. 2001 ISBN 3-89129-931-1
• Vol 2 Briefe 1683-1715.- München: Iudicium Verl., 2001. ISBN 3-89129-932-X
• Vol 3 Zeichnungen japanischer Pflanzen. – München: Iudicum Verl., 2003. ISBN 3-89129-933-8
• Vol 4 Engelbert Kaempfer in Siam. – München: Iudicum Verl., 2003. – ISBN 3-89129-934-6
• Vol 5 Notitiae Malabaricae. – München: Iudicum Verl., 2003. ISBN 3-89129-935-4
• Vol 6 Russlandtagebuch 1683. – München: Iudicum Verl., 2003. ISBN 3-89129-936-2