蘭
典
About the dictionary Nichi-Ran jiten and its author
The author of 『日蘭辭典』 Nichi-Ran jiten is P. A. van de Stadt. Both the title page and the colophon use the Japanese spelling フアン.デ.スタット ‘‘van de statto’’, but a preface by the author is signed in full with ‘‘P. A. van de Stadt, Batavia C. 2 Februari 1934’’. The preface tells that the original manuscript had already been completed in 1925, but that publishers were not interested in publishing it. Eventually Van de Stadt’s dictionary was published 9 years after completion by 南洋協會臺灣支部 Nan’yō Kyōkai Taiwan shibu, the Taiwanese department of the Japanese publisher 南洋協會 Nan’yō Kyōkai.
The author
The full name of P. A. van de Stadt is Peter Adriaan van de Stadt, born in Arnhem (the Netherlands) in 1876. He passed away in 1940 in what was then Batavia of the Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta of Indonesia). According to C. J. van de Stadt, P. A. van de Stadt graduated from the H.B.S (the ‘‘hogere burgerschool’’ a 5 year education that prepared students for university level studies) in 1892 and persued after that the training for government official of the Dutch East Indies for Chinese affairs at the University of Leiden, which he completed in 1895. After that he served most of the time as an offical in the administration the Dutch East Indies. From 1918 on he was adviser for Japanese affairs, and spent part of his time reading and translating Japanese publications. In 1932 he retired because his job was abolished. P. A. van de Stadt was made officer of the order of Oranje-Nassau in 1910. Later he received the order of the Rising Sun (1925) and the Legion of Honor (1928). [1]
Besides the Japanese-Dutch dictionary, Van de Stadt compiled the Chinese dictionary Hakka woordenboek, Batavia landsdrukkerij, Den Haag, 1912.
Copyrights
I do not know whether Van de Stadt transferred the copyrights of the Japanese-Dutch dictionary to its Japanese publisher. If so, the book is free. If not, then under current law the rights of the book will remain with the grandchildren of the author till 2010. With the help of Richard van de Stadt I have so far been able to locate two grandchildren, H. A. N. Versluys and H. P. van de Stadt. They don’t know whether the rights of the book have been transferred or not, but have no objection against the book’s publication on the internet.
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1. C.J. van de Stadt, Engel van de Stadt, 1746-1819. Zijn voor- en nageslacht. Den Haag, 1951 (p. 165-166).