The World of Jan Brandes, 1743–1808: Drawings of a Dutch Traveller in Batavia, Ceylon and Southern Africa

This publication brings to light one of the most remarkable and intimate visual records of Dutch colonial life in the 18th century. Jan Brandes, a Lutheran minister appointed to Batavia—the administrative center of the Dutch East India Company (VOC)—created over six hundred watercolour drawings during his travels through Java, Ceylon, and Southern Africa between 1779 and 1787.

Unlike official VOC imagery, Brandes’s works offer a deeply personal perspective, capturing not only landscapes and local customs but also everyday moments, domestic interiors, and objects of natural and ethnographic interest. Produced primarily as private mementoes or occasional gifts, his drawings convey a documentary immediacy, combining curiosity, observation, and artistic skill. Rediscovered in 1985 by the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Brandes collection has since been recognized as an invaluable source for understanding the lived experience of colonial encounters.

The World of Jan Brandes features 198 of these works reproduced in full colour and original size, accompanied by essays from leading scholars who explore the drawings from historical, anthropological, and art historical perspectives. It stands as a unique testimony to cross-cultural observation in the early modern world.

Publication Details:

• Authors: Max de Bruijn and Remco Raben
• Publisher: Waanders Uitgevers (2004)
• Language: English
• Format: Hardcover with dust jacket
• Pages: 543 pages
• Dimensions: 26 x 30 cm
• ISBN: 9789040087561

 Condition:

• Book: Very Good. Inscribed by Max de Bruijn to former owner on title page. Faint dust soiling along the edges of the page block. Foxing to a few initial and terminal leaves. Soft age-toning to page edges. Minor abrasion to rear endpaper. Internally very clean.
• Dust Jacket: Good. Light overall wear with creasing and foxing to interior.