NEDERLANDSCH AFRIKA, OF HISTORISCH EN STAATKUNDIG TAFEREEL VAN DEN OORSRONGELYKEN STAAT DER VOLKPLANTINGE (Published 1783)

Holland: 1783

8vo, 180pp. Unbound.

Title translated into English: Dutch Africa, or, Historical and political scene of the original state of the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, compared with the present state of that settlement, illustrated in the handwriting of a well-educated observer: translated from the French.

Mendelssohn I, p.117: Mr Theal remarks that "The value of the work consists in the fact that it gives a picture of the administration of the East India Company at the time it was written, from the point of view of a large section of the colonists of South Africa," and he further states that the the work "was published at a time when the colonists of South Africa were divided into factions," of one of which the writer was "a special pleader...therefore anything like an impartial account of the Colony is not to be expected from his pen. His account of the early days of the settlement is almost fabulous in its inaccuracy."

Condition: Fair. Unbound. Textblock itself is bound, though signatures are coming loose from each other. Notes and marks in pen and pencil and small sticker on title page. Stains to bottom corners of a few pages, especially towards rear of book. Small creases to top edges of first pages. Remnants of slip to verso of title page. Slight foxing throughout. Text is still clean.