Englebert Kaempfer (1651-1716) was a surgeon working for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) who is responsible for writing the one of the most comprehensive European accounts of Japan, published posthumously in English by Sir Hans Sloane in 1727 (RCIN 1074485-6). This book was the only text he managed to publish in his lifetime. It provides an overview of the medicinal plants and surgical techniques used in medicine in Iran, Thailand and Japan where he travelled during his service with the VOC. The text provides the first botany of Japanese plants to be published in Europe.