Lot 318
  • 318

Cook, Captain James--Sparrman, Anders

Estimate
800 - 1,200 GBP
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Description

  • A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, towards the Antarctic Polar Circle, and Round the World. London: G. Robinson, 1785
  • Paper
FIRST EDITION, 2 volumes, 4to (271 x 220mm.), (vol.1) xxviii, 368pp.; (vol.2) viii, 350pp., [ii pp. errata], folding engraved map, 10 engraved plates, contemporary russia, flat gilt spine, dark blue marbled endpapers, plates and map very slightly spotted and offset, joints splitting at head and foot

Provenance

Earl of Lonsdale, armorial bookplate and gilt cypher on the covers

Literature

BCJC 1276; Rosove 316.A.1; Holmes 54; Hill (2004) 1615

Condition

A good copy
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Catalogue Note

First edition in English of Sparrman's account of Cook's second voyage. The work describes his travels inland from the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope and as an assistant to naturalist Johann Forster on board the Resolution between September 1772 and March 1775. Sparrman's account includes a number of details which are not mentioned elsewhere, and the bulk of the narrative focuses on South Africa, including an appendix on the language of the Hottentots. "The author... 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 Kolbe's account of the Cape and throws considerable doubt on the veracity of many of his statements" (Mendelssohn, [1957], II, p.414).