DESCRIPTIVE HANDBOOK OF THE CAPE COLONY: ITS CONDITION AND RESOURCES

315 pages, fine tinted lithographic panorama as frontispiece (measures 1340 x 184 mm when folded out) titled Table Bay Breakwater and Cape Town Docks and lithographed in London by M. & N. Hanhart, tinted lithograph of Town Hall and Market Square, Port Elizabeth 1874, large coloured folding map of South Africa by Henry Hall, folding table of Cape of Good Hope Trade Returns, original brown pebble-grained cloth titled gilt on the upper cover and spine, with book binder’s ticket of Saul Solomon on the front paste-down end paper, a very good copy.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography vol.2 page 106: The official position of the author, and his personal acquaintance with the Cape Colony, particularly fitted hira for the task of preparing this work, which affords an accurate view of the country at the commencement of the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

The main objects of the publication, as set forth in the Preface, were "to present an impartial account of the aspect and condition of the various divisions of the Colony; to inform the reader of its liberal land laws, its agricultural and pastoral resources, its mineral wealth, its industries, and its commercial progress; and thus to direct attention to the favourable field it offers for the profitable employment of intelligent industry and moderate capital." In addition to the large amount of information thus provided, there is a folding lithographic view of the Table Bay Breakwater and of Cape Town Docks, an illustration of the Port Elizabeth Market Square and Town Hall, and a map of South Africa corrected up to the time of issue.