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Created 30/9/2026. Last updated 30/9/2026

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'Hanenpoot' is a picture book which the Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk created for his son Julius Willem in around 1807 (although the ms was kept private within the family and not published publicly until 1977). I do not know what the evidence for the 1807 date is. One of the drawings shows Hanenpoot standing in a Chinese Junk.

Unlike almost all other Western drawings of this design, the boat in this drawing has a flat, pointed prow, and so closely resembles the Japanese version of the design. This raises the possibility that the Japanese version of the design had somehow reached the Netherlands and become known to Willem Bilderdijk, though how this could have happened is not clear.

The words below the picture read 'Hanenpoot sails stout and proud, In a ship of paper'.

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