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Auction #132 begins on 09 Jul 2026

Sparrman (André)

VOYAGE AU CAP DE BONNE-ESPERANCE, (Unusual 'pirate' edition)

ET AUTOUR DU MONDE AVEC LE CAPITAINE COOK, ET PRINCIPALEMENT DANS LE PAYS DES HOTTENTOTS ET DES CAFFRES

Published: Chez Buisson, Paris, 1787

Edition: Variant issue

Reserve: $200

Approximately:

Estimate: $250/300

Bidding opens: 9 Jul 16:30 GMT

Bidding closes: 16 Jul 16:30 GMT

Ships from: South Africa

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Par André Sparrman, Docteur en Médecine, de l'Académie des Sciences, et Directeur du Cabinet royal d'Histoire naturelle de Stockholm.

 Avec Cartes, Figures et Planches en taille-douce.

 Traduit par M. Le Tourneur.

Variant issue, possibly a pirated edition: 3 volumes, xxxii, 388, 366 & 363 pages, half title page in each volume, engraved double page frontispiece in volume I, 15 engraved plates (6 folding) and a folding map bound at the end of each volume, contemporary half calf with sprinkled paper sides - the leather is worn along the edges and at the corners, the large folding map has been repaired at the hinge, some pages browned, the page edges are dyed light yellow, a very good set.

A South African Bibliography, volume 4, page 361.Four copies listed.

Quarterly Bulletin of the South African Library, Volume I, 1946-7, pages 42 - 48, A Contribution to the Bibliography of Sparrman's Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, by A.M. Lewin Robinson. French editions 1787: Lists two editions in three volumes F1 and F2, the latter which agrees with the present copy. Robinson observes, 'F2 is much inferior in both the general typography and in the plates are all reversed from those in F1. The title is the same as F1 except that there is no acute accent on the second E of Espéranace. The whole of the text is set in a type face of a different design and about 2 points smaller than F1, and there are good reasons for considering F2 a pirated edition.'

A pirate edition is a term commonly applied to an edition of a book produced and marketed without the authority of, or payment to, the author. The term derives from the metaphor of pirates seizing goods that belong to others. It was a common practice before the standardisation of international protection of author's and publisher's copyright in the mid-19th century.

  • Overall Condition: Very good
  • Size: 8vo (190 x 120 mm)


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