Reize van Zeeland over de Kaap de Goede Hoop en Batavia naar Samarang, Macassar, Amboina, Suratte ens. 2 Vols

Stavorinus, then an admiral in the Zeeland navy, made an extended voyage covering the Dutch colonies in South Africa and the Far East. He visited Stellenbosch, Hottentots Holland, Vergeleegen, Klapmuts, among other places in the Cape, and remarks on the position of the farmers, whom he regards as superior to the Dutch living in the towns. His general picture of the colonists is not a complimentary one and he paints conditions in the Cape Town hospital as being a complete health hazard, more likely to spread disease than to cure. He describes the inhabitants of the town as discourteous and disagreeable, which might in part be due to the arbitrary and rapacious government they had to labour under - similar to 2015 !

An important and accurate account of the late 18th century Cape. His impressions of the Dutch colonies in the East are equally revealing and interesting. Dutch text.

383 + 335 pp with two large folding maps, one torn at the hinge, but without loss, one of which has a 3cm tear. In full contemporary calf with gilt decorated spines, some wear, but generally well-preserved. The endpapers bear an ownership in ink and a bookplate. The books are in clean condition, except that the endpapers have discoloured slightly.