A VOYAGE TO THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TOWARDS THE ANTARCTIC POLAR CIRCLE ROUND THE WORLD

But chiefly into the Country of the Hottentots and Caffres, from the year 1772 to 1776. By Andrew Sparrman, M.D., Professor of Physic at Stockholm, fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden, and Inspector of Its Cabinet of Natural History. Translated from the Swedish original with plates in two volumes.

First English Edition: 2 volumes, 368 + 354, (ii errata and directions to the book-binder), pages, copper engraved frontispiece in volume 1 - Prospect of the country at the Cape of Good Hope, 9 engraved plates, folding map, contemporary mottled calf rebacked with brown title labels on the spine, light foxing on the plates which are bound at the end of each volume, working loose at the front hinge in volume 1, overall a very good set.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography, volume 2, pages 414 – 5, 'On his arrival at the Cape on January10, 1772, Sparrman had only the small sum of twenty-five rix dollars in his possession, but the kindness of his reception and the hospitality of the colonists enabled him to pursue his researches and his expenses on his short expeditions were defrayed by the Swedish East India Company. About the latter end of the year, the English Exploring Expedition under Captain Cook visited Table Bay, and Sparrman was invited to accompany it and he sailed in the Resolution on November 22, 1772. He did not return to South Africa until March 1775, when he determined to make an expedition into the interior with a friend named Immelman, and they made a start on July 25, the journey being extended to April, 1776. They penetrated through Kaffararia as far as "Bruntjes Hoogte," and the narrative of their travels is interesting and instructive, and is described by Mr Theal as the "most trustworthy account of the Cape Colony and the various races of people residing in it" that had been published in the eighteenth century. Sparrman died at Stockholm in 1820 at the age of 73; his work, originally written in Swedish, was translated and published in French, English and German and went through several editions.’