| Annotation | Two small loose pieces of paper with handwritten notes are inserted in the notebook. Collational formula of the pre-printed book: A-E¹², F⁶ (interleaved copy). Title devised by cataloger. Agenda and diary, contained in pre-printed book for the year 1783 (and the first two months of 1784) of the famous Joan Gideon Loten (1710-1789). He was a governor and council of the East Indies at the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and a fellow of the Royal Society. He finished his VOC career as Governor of Ceylon and he was also a famous naturalist. Loten was well versed in the zoological, astronomical, genealogical and medical literature of his era. In England he came in touch with naturalists in the just founded British Museum. This diary contains all kind of names, scribblings, calculations, news etc. about the Dutch East Indies and about his contacts in London, Utrecht [Netherlands] and other places. The diary is also of interest because of his use of opium which was prescribed to him because of respiratory complaints and asthmatic convulsions from which he suffered since 1766. Among his friends were Joseph Banks, Dr. Daniel Solander and Alexander Dalrymple. The diary includes brief remarks about his correspondence with Dalrymple, Thomas Pennant and John Wesley. Cite as: Universiteitsbibliotheek Utrecht Hs 35 A 4. Purchase; 20201117 Most of the daily entries are in Dutch, several are in English and some are in French. Bought at auction 352, Burgersdijk & Niermans, 17-18 Nov. 2020, lot 1154 Stamp of 'Bibliotheca Bernensis Ordinis Praemonstratensis Heeswijk, [Netherlands]', with old shelfmark XXXV A 10 on flyleaf. Green parchment binding (envelope-book) over pasteboard. A.J.P. Raat, The life of governor Joan Gideon Loten (1710-1789). A personal history of a Dutch virtuoso, 2010. | Translate |
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