Pieter Albert Bik (1798-1855) was a Dutch colonial official whose work took him all over the world, including travels throughout Europe, the Dutch East Indies, and Japan. This book presents for the first time in English his autobiographical writings about those travels, which Bik never published in his lifetime. Presented here with annotations to set his observations in context, Bik's accounts offer a unique glimpse of the wide horizons of the world of Dutch colonialism in the first half of the nineteenth century, while editor Mikko Toivanen also draws interesting parallels between Bik's travels and the contemporary emergence of tourist travel in Europe.
Part I. A Colonial Life in Travels
Chapter 1. Pieter Albert Bik and His Writings
Chapter 2. Travel and Travel Writing in the Nineteenth Century
Chapter 3. The Global Tourist Pieter Albert Bik
Part II. The Manuscript of Pieter Albert Bik
A Note on the Translation
Brief Notes by Pieter Albert Bik, Born in Amsterdam on the 18th of July 1798, since the Year 1813
Journal Kept on the Court Trip to Jedo in the Year 1844, by P.A. Bik, Chief Factor of the Dutch Trade in Japan
Notes of P.A. Bik, Made on the Journey from Batavia to Holland, over the So-Called Land Route
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
