Manuscript Diary of Henry Heusken 1855-1861 Contemporary hand-written translation in Dutch
[Japan] A complete, handwritten translation of Henry Heusken's French diary covering the period from 1855 until 1861 when Heusken was killed. This diary appears to have been written just after the assassination of Heusken in January 1861. It was acquired at a bookshop in Amsterdam in 1953 by Jeannette C. van der Corput's husband, a professor of mathematics, who gave the book to his wife as a translation project. She, along with Professor Robert A. Wilson of UCLA who had found Heusken's original diary in French, translated the diaries into English in 1964 for their book, 'Henry Heusken Japan Journal 1855-1861' (Rutgers University Press, 1964). The diary had been in the van der Corput family since 1953. This diary is almost certainly a translation of the French diary, but it is unknown who wrote it. It was most likely one of the Dutch interpreters working in Japan at the time of Heusken's death. A Japanese translation of, 'Henry Heusken Japan Journal 1855-1861', was published in Japanse by Aoki Shiro. Interestingly, he mentions in the preface that Heusken wrote that he wanted to present a copy of his diary in his native tongue to give to the Queen of the Netherlands so it is tempting to believe that this is that book. However, it seems that particular passage in the original French diary was very difficult to translate due to the illegibility of Heusken's writing in that particular section. It seems far more likely that this diary was written by someone else soon after Heusken's death by someone with close access to Heusken's personal effects. Pages 1-350 are written in the same handwriting and pages 350-388 were written by someone else and contain manuscript copies of letters Heusken wrote to his mother and a few other translations into Dutch of articles about his death). Perhaps this translation into Dutch was done for Heusken's mother. Regardless, this is a wonderful chance to acquire an important, historical work and almost certainly the only contemporary translation of Heusken's diary in existence. Heusken was the first Westerner (along with Townsend Harris) after Perry's arrival to live in Japan for almost five years and keep a diary.
388pp. Written in a contemporary diary. 28.4 x 18cm.
In very good condition. The binding has been professionally re-covered. Internally very good and very readable. Minor age wear and marks but overall very good. nb35080002
Provenance: The diary was acquired from the family of Jeanette C. van der Corput and still has the original 1953 receipt of purchase pasted in.
