A GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE;

3 volumes (181 pages, 159 pages; 353 pages): folding plate, folding map. (Van Riebeeck Society; volumes 4, 6 and 25). Cloth, minor variance in colour. Volumes 1 and 2 bear the signature of Colin Graham Botha. Originally published in 1785-1787.

Original title: A COMPLETE AND AUTHENTIC GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMOUS AND (ALL THINGS CONSIDERED) REMARKABLE AFRICAN CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.                                                                                         

Otto F. Mentzel (1709-1801) was born into a wealthy Berlin family. Well-educated, it is not certain why he arrived at the Cape in 1733 as a lowly VOC soldier. He served as a teacher to Paul Keijser's family and then for Lieutenant Rudolph Alleman's family. He also acted as a clerk in the timber store. In January 1841 he delivered letters to the vessel Hartenlust, anchored in the bay. The wind came up and the vessel sailed for Europe, taking Mentzel along too! He never returned to the Cape, spending the rest of his life in the Prussian Civil Service, rising to high rank. This reprint of his writings on the Cape was completed more than forty years after his abrupt departure. His perceptive account has been used extensively in academic treatises and books on the Cape under the VOC.