KOLBE (Peter)

Naaukeurige en Uitvoerige Beschryving van de Kaap de Goede Hoop;  Behelzende Een zeer omstandig Verhaal van den tegenwoodigen toestant van dat vermaarde Gewest, dezzelfs Gelegenheit, Haven, Sterkte, Regerings-vorm,Uitgestrektheit, en onlangs ondekte aanle

First Dutch edition. 2 vols. in 1 , Folio. Engraved frontispiece/half title , portrait, a large folding map ( strengthened at folds). and 5 further double page maps, double page view of Table Mountain, and 45 plates ( one with a short closed tear). Contemporary calf rather clumsily repaired. The first two blank leaves , the half title and frontispiece strengthened with tape at the foremargin . [12],529; [4],449,[79]pp. mst., B. Lakeman, 1727.

£5,500.00

Both the first ( printed in German in 1719) and later editions, of which there were many, lose much compared to this definitive edition, which is quite rare in commerce. The 46 plates form the most advanced pictorial record of native life in the Cape and of the fauna too, while the earlier German edition only had one map.

Kolbe or Kolben was sent to the Cape in 1705 in order to make astronomical observations, but he was not a success and in 1710 his superiors decided that a lacklustre performance of his duties warranted his repatriation to Holland. He managed, however, to find a position ending up as secretary to the Court of Landdrost and Heemraden at Stellenbosch. Again his character and abilities were found wanting and he returned to Germany in 1713.

As Theal notices “ Kolbe’s writings were the basis of nearly everything that was published concerning South Africa for the next half century“. Kennedy ( Africana Repository Cape Town 1965) remarks on the superiority of the Dutch edition over the German. “ The Dutch is a finer book“.

Stock No.
226336