Paul van der Velde is a historian and expert on the Dutch in Asia. The editor, along with J.A. de Moor, of a critical edition of Jacob Haafner's writings, van der Velde also published a Haafner biography in Dutch in 1998. He is the author of A Lifelong Passion: P.J. Veth (1814-1895) and the Dutch East Indies (2006) and has edited and written a number of works on Asian Studies and Asian regionalism. He is currently the Secretary of the biannual International Convention of Asia Scholars, organized by the International Institute of Asian Studies.Liesbeth Pankaja Bennink is a Bharatanatyam dancer, writer, researcher and translator with a deep interest in all aspects of South Indian history and culture.

• Introduction: Haafner's Journeys Haafner's Work and His World Reactions to Haafner My Journey to Haafner Chapter 1: A Wandering Existence Carefree First Adventure in Porto Praya The Cape of Good Hope Adultery and Torture Khoikhoi Love Beads Famous Lost Son The Umbilical Cord Unravels Chapter 2: Struggle for Life Sardis: A Futile Person Graveyard of the Europeans Willem Koelbier: The Bloodthirsty Tiger At the Pen in Nagapatnam The Sadras Idyll Advanced Science Sadras Lost, Disastrous Cost Chapter 3: Where can Our Soul Shelter? Famine in Madras The Foolish Count Bonvoux Anna's Embrace The Palmetto Oh, That Wanderlust! Baker George Most Reasonable of the Unreasonable Mestizo among the Mestizos Delusion and Pimberah Forsaken by Anna Chapter 4: Passion for India Merchant in Calcutta The Impetuous Julius Soubise Sunrise Mamia! Snakebite Lily of the South In the Land of the Dodo and Javanese Hawfinch Heaven and Earth Perished Chapter 5: Languishing in Europe Kees, Kees! Shouted the Orange Rabble A Full Purse The Haafner Case The Dutch Society of Sciences Laureate of the Teylers Theological Society The God of One's Tyrants A Shot across the Bow of the Mission Phallus Worship Farewell Lovable Objects! Postscript Sources Jacob G. Haafner (1754–1809): A Brief Chronology of His Life List of Publications by Jacob Haafner List of Publications on Jacob Haafner Index

“Haafner’s stories often seem outrageous, yet van der Velde shows how independent records verify his accounts.” “A vibrant and deliberately concise biography. . . . van der Velde paints a unique image of the late eighteenth-century colonial world, through the medium of Haafner’s stories.”