九州大学大学院言語文化研究院FLC叢書Ⅰ
Der Ost-Indischen und angrenzenden Koenigreiche vornehmste Seltenheiten betreffende kurze Erlaeuterung

This book presents a newly discovered text of which only one copy has survived in the Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Münzkabinett). It was dedicated to the Duke of Saxony Johann Georg III. and published in 1686 as a private print under the title "Short explanation of the most prominent rarities in East India and neighbouring kingdoms". The author Caspar Schamberger (1623-1706) had lived in Asia for twelve years serving as a surgeon on VOC ships and in Dutch trading posts. He is known as the "father" of the first fully-fledged Western-style surgery school in Japan. His "Short explanation” depicts fruits, plants, animals, various ethinicities, coins etc. from Persia to Japan including the Khoikhoi (Khoisan) in Southern Africa. This is one of the earliest Western accounts of these matters based on observations made during the late 1640s and 1650s. The extensive commentary (126 pages) gives an outline of Schamberger's life presenting numerous new information on his activities after his return to Leipzig in 1658. Schamberger's descriptions are analysed in detail within the context of similar accounts of nine 17th century German travellers: Caspar Schmalkalden, Zacharias Wagener, Heinrich Muche, Johann Wilhelm Vogel