This anthology is a compilation of Westerners’ accounts of their visits to Korea, originally published in books or newspapers before the country opened its doors in the late nineteenth century. The opening of Korea made it possible to explore the country in detail and write detailed accounts. Prior impressions were garnered mostly from brief visits to remote islands along the coast. The accounts published here are mainly anecdotal, and contain many generalizations. However, the accumulated impressions of these early encounters surely influenced the perspectives of later travelers, and help explain the overwhelmingly negative image of Korea that Western governments harbored at the time.

The book can serve as a useful resource for studying Korea’s early interactions with the outside world, and will give readers an idea of the criteria by which Westerners judged the foreign “other.”

Pictorial Records of Korea from the 16th to 19th Century
Editors’ Preface
[Part 1] Europe’s Knowledge of Korea: The First Steps
The Portuguese
Early Dutch Reports: Dirck Gerritsz and Jan Huyghen
The Dutch Reach Japan
Matteo Ricci
Alvaro Semedo
Martino Martini
Arnoldus Montanus
Hendrick Hamel
The Impact of Hamel’s account
Nicolaas Witsen
Jean Baptiste du Halde and Jean-Baptiste R?gis
[Part 2] From the late 18th century into the 19th Century
Lap?rouse Sails Past Jeju Island in 1787
William Robert Broughton in Busan and Jeju Island in 1797
First News of the Catholic Church in Korea
The Silk Letter of 1801
Basil Hall and others Visit the Korean West Coast in 1816
Korea Seen from Japan in 1828: von Siebold
Hugh Hamilton Lindsay Sails into Korean Waters in 1832
Sir Edward Belcher Explores Jeju Island and the South-West Coast in 1845
Arthur Adams Admires the Ecology of Jeju Island in 1845
The French Begin to Look Toward Korea: Cecille’s 1846 visit
Lapierre’s 1847 Double Shipwreck
An Expedition to Korea to Rescue the Crew of The Narwal in April 1851
Fr. Maistre Reaches Korea in 1852
A Visit to Korea by the H.M.S. Barracouta, August 1855
[Part 3] The Opening of Korea
Keeping Russia out of Korea
Theophile Aude Visits Korea on Guerin’s Expedition in 1858
Ernst Jakob Oppert Sails Up the Han River in 1866
The French Expedition of 1866
Father Dallet’s Histoire de l’?glise de Cor?e (1874) Relates the 1866 Expedition
Knowing About Korea Without Ever Going There: Alexander Williamson in 1870
A Japanese Visitor’s Secret Trip into the Interior of Korea in 1875
Miyamoto Okadzu’s Visit to Korea in February 1876
Fr. Gustave Mutel Enters Korea in 1880
George Clayton Foulk’s First Visit in June 1882
A Stroll in Korea by Unknown Men in August 1882
John Carey Hall’s Visit to Seoul in 1882
G. James Morrison’s Visit to Corea in July 1883
A Naval Officer Travels from Seoul to Songdo in June 1884