TRAVELS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA (1812)

First English edition, translated by Anne Plumptre. The original German edition was published in 1811.

Volume one only (volume two appeared in 1815).

Original full calf binding with front panel detached. Internally in good condition.

xii + 383pp + [xxxi] appendix and index.

All plates present, they include:

1.) Frontispiece portrait of the author, 2.) View of the Pikenierskloof 3.) View of the Settlement at Algoa Bay 4.) A Caffre Man and Woman of the Tribe of the Koopas / Weapons, Ornaments, and Household Implements of the Koopas 5.) The Spandau Mountain near Graaff Reynett

'Trained in medicine, Lichtenstein travelled in southern Africa between 1802 and 1806, where he became the personal physician of the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope. His first journey, in the western and northern parts of the colony, took him to Saldanha Bay, the Bokkeveld and into the Great Karroo. From there he visited Swellendam and travelled along the southern coast to Algoa Bay. In 1810 he published Reisen im südlichen Afrika [Travels in Southern Africa], in which he commented on the landscape, wildlife, and people he encountered, with his observations on their cultures, economies, and languages. Lichtenstein was appointed professor of zoology at the University of Berlin in 1811, and he was appointed director of the Berlin Zoological Museum in 1813. In 1829, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He died after a duel fought at sea off Kiel.' - Mendelssohn I, p.899