Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections

Biography
Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887) started his career as colonial official in the Dutch East Indies at the age of 19. In 1842, he was appointed controleur (controller) in the district Natal on the West coast of Sumatra. After a couple of years and as the result of a conflict at work, he was transferred to Java. It was that conflict that triggered his talent as writer and sparked his urge to publish, this conflict reoccurs in many of his stories. Subsequently, he held a couple of low-rank positions in Karawang and Purworejo. But it was his appointment to secretary of the residence Menado, Celebes (Sulawesi) in 1848 that rehabilitated him entirely. Towards the end of 1851, Douwes Dekker was promoted assistent-resident in Ambon, but due to health problems he soon left the Indies for the Netherlands where he would stay during an almost 3-year-leave. In mid-1855, he returned to the Indies where he was appointed assistant-resident of Lebak, Java. Only a year later he was honourably discharged from the colonial service upon his request. He remained on Java for another year before returning to Europe for good. There he successfully pursued a full-time writing career under the pen name Multatuli. In 1877, he abruptly stopped publishing. Ten years later, Douwes Dekker died in his house in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany.

This collection was donated to the KITLV by N.A. Douwes Dekker. Together with the KITLV collection, this collection was transferred to Leiden University Libraries in 2014.