HOGENDORP, Carel Sirardus Willem van. — Coup d'oeil sur l'ile de Java et les autres possessions Néerlandaises dans l'archipel des Indes.Brussels, C.J. de Mat, 1830. 4to. With a steel engraved view of Chateau de Buitenzorg, by Lauters after the engraving by Titsingh and 1 folding map, coloured in outlines, of Java and the other Dutch posessions in the Far East, engraved by F. Callens. Contemporary elaborately gold- and blind-stamped dark blue morocco.
XII, 422, [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank] pp.Beautiful original edition in French by the Dutch Count Carel Sirardus Willem van Hogendorp (1788-1856), Resident of Batavia, Buitenzorg, and Crawang from 1818 to 1827. In this book, he gives an account of varying aspects of the island Java and the other Dutch possessions in this region. Politics, culture, vegetation, and wildlife, as well as agriculture, colonial administration, revenues and the Dutch-Japanese trade relations, are subject of the critical observations made by Van Hogendorp. The work, which was also published in a Dutch translation in 1833, is dedicated to the Minister of "Waterstaat" (Minister of Water Management (or Public Works)), P.L.J.S. van Gobbelschroy. It gives a lively picture of the colony just before the introduction of the capitalistic "cultuurstelsel" (cultivation system, a system of forced labour) and the outbreak of the so-called Java War (1824-1830).With a small manuscript annotation on the rector of the first flyleaf ("offert par l'auteur") and the bookplate of H.E. Driessen on the front pastedown. The binding shows very slight signs of wear, mainly along the hinges, the large folding map is somewhat frayed and a tear has been repaired using white tape on the verso. Foxed and stained throughout. Otherwise in good condition.l Van der Chijs 1864, p. 192; Tiele 493; H.W. van den Doel, Het rijk van Insulinde (Amsterdam 1996), pp. 164-6; cf. NWBW II, cols. 584-6.
