Top of page

Book/Printed Material Chosön, the land of the morning calm ; a sketch of Korea,

View 451 images in sequence.

About this Item

Title

  • Chosön, the land of the morning calm ; a sketch of Korea,

Summary

  • Percival Lowell was born in 1855 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, into a distinguished New England family. His brother, Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856-1943), was president of Harvard University; his sister, Amy Lowell (1874-1925), an important poet and critic. Lowell studied mathematics at Harvard and, after graduation, spent six years in business, managing a family-owned cotton mill. In the spring of 1883, he made his first trip to Japan. In August of that year, he was asked by the United States Legation in Tokyo to serve as secretary and counselor to the Korean Special Mission to the United States, the first mission from Korea to a Western country. Lowell accepted the offer and, as he later wrote, soon "entered my native land as a foreigner." The Koreans were pleased with his services and, at the conclusion of their mission, invited Lowell to accompany them back to Korea. He remained in Korea for only about two months, but his stay provided the basis for Choson, the Land of the Morning Calm, in which he described the geography, people, and culture of a country still little known in the West. Lowell spent most of the next decade in the Far East, where he wrote several books and mastered both Japanese and Korean. In the fall of 1893, he returned to the United States, where he took up astronomy and founded, in 1894, the Lowell Observatory of Flagstaff, Arizona. His most important scientific contribution was to posit, in 1914, the existence of a trans-Neptunian planet, sixteen years before an astronomer at the Lowell Observatory discovered the planet that came to be called Pluto. World Digital Library.

Names

  • Lowell, Percival, 1855-1916.

Created / Published

  • Boston, Ticknor and company, 1886 [1885]

Headings

  • -  Korea

Medium

  • x, 412 p. front., illus., plates, 2 fold. maps. 26 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • DS902 .L91

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 04016695

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse. Researchers are encouraged to review the source information attached to each item. For information on contacting WDL partner organizations, see this archived list of partners

The Library asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.

Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

For additional information and contact information for many of the partner organizations, see this archived capture of the World Digital Library site from 2021.

For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Lowell, Percival. Chosön, the land of the morning calm ; a sketch of Korea. [Boston, Ticknor and company, 1885, 1885] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/04016695/.

APA citation style:

Lowell, P. (1885) Chosön, the land of the morning calm ; a sketch of Korea. [Boston, Ticknor and company, 1885] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/04016695/.

MLA citation style:

Lowell, Percival. Chosön, the land of the morning calm ; a sketch of Korea. [Boston, Ticknor and company, 1885, 1885] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/04016695/>.