Hand coloured copper engraving from 1685 but published in the early 1700s.
The page includes text and two views of the Cape. The upper panel is a prospect of Cape Town from Table Bay, with shipping in the foreground flying the Dutch flag. The text below this prospect refers to the Company’s gardens, ‘the most beautiful and curious to be seen in a country that is sterile and frightful.’
The lower engraving shows the Dutch fort at the Cape and an observatory established by the Frenchman Tachard and the Jesuit Fathers to observe the southern skies.This is a mirror image of the actual scene - an error introduced when the engraver copied the scenes from Tachard’s Voyage de Siam des Père Jésuits in 1685.
This page is in fine condition and the hand-colouring tasteful. The only defect being a tiny triangle of loss at the bottom left corner of the page - far the plateline
Reference: Norwich #210
- Overall Condition: Very good
- Size: 22.0cm x 33.5cm
- Sold By: Thorolds Legal & Antiquarian Booksellers
- Contact Person: Kim Roberts
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 0118759991
- Preferred Payment Methods: Cash; EFT; Credit Card
- Trade Associations: Antiquarian Bookseller's Association
