SPARRMAN, Anders (1748-1820). A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, towards the Antarctic Polar Circle. London, 1785. FIRST ED. IN ENGLISH
2 volumes in one, 4to (262 x 202 mm). Engraved folding map, 10 engraved plates. (Some scattered minor foxing to text and plates.) Contemporary calf, marbled edges (expertly rebacked preserving original spine and endpapers). Provenance: Abraham Wildey Roberts (bookplate). FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF SPARRMAN'S ACCOUNT OF COOK'S SECOND VOYAGE, including Sparrman's account of his travels inland from the expedition's settlement at the Cape of Good Hope. He includes a number of details not present in other accounts of the voyage, and much of his narrative relates to his time in South Africa. "The author relates many incidents illustrating the hospitality of the Dutch farmers and their dense ignorance of matters outside their own country, and he makes allusions to the cruelty of the treatment of the slaves by the lower classes of the colonists. He frequently draws attention to the inaccuracies to be met with in [Peter] Kolbe[n]'s account of the Cape, and throws considerable doubt on the veracity of many of his statements." (Mendelssohn). Conrad p.14; Hill, p.279; Mendelssohn II:414; Renard 1516; Rosove 316.A1 ("Scarce"); Spence 1146.
