Mary Camper-Titsingh, The Man Who Kow-Towed: A Biographical Novel Based on the Life of Isaac Titsingh, Holland’s Eighteenth-Century Merchant-Scholar in Asia Santa Ysabel, CA:
Rancho Palomar Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-615-34859-9 (paperback) US $19.95
http://petruscamper.com/titsingh/
Unlike some of his European colleagues, Isaac Titsingh did not consider it beneath his dignity to kowtow or kneel and touch his forehead to the ground as a sign of respect in Asia. This shrewd Dutch trade
ambassador became the first European to meet all three rulers of Japan, India and China. East-West
trade was still in its infancy. Merchants knew about the Asian markets but were unable to penetrate
them, largely due to their respective leaders’ reluctance to engage with Westerners. Only the Dutch
were permitted to trade with the Japanese during Isaac Titsingh’s lifetime. His Dutch-American descendant, Mary Camper-Titsingh, has written a fictional account of Isaac Titsingh’s travels, encounters
with royalty and commercial success for the Dutch East Indies Company or VOC (the Verenigde
Oostindische Compagnie). Unlike most VOC employees, Isaac Titsingh had an university education
and became keenly interested in Japanese culture. He learned to read and write Japanese and his
intellectual counterparts interested in “Dutch Studies,” meaning Western knowledge, made many cultural exchanges. His publications attest to his extraordinary vision and amazing grasp of Japanese
culture. The Dutch consider him to be their first Japanologist.
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