Comprising a view of the present state of the Cape Colony. With observations on the progress and prospects of the British emigrants. Second edition. 2 vols. Folding map, 2 folding plans, 20 uncoloured aquatints & 17 further woodcut in the text. 8vo. Original papers boards with paper title labels. Spine loose on the second volume and joint split. Somewhat soiled. Contents excellent. Uncut. xvi, 450; xxii, [ii], 430pp. London, Henry Colburn, 1827.
Published in the same year as the 4to first edition, of which Mendelssohn gives a long description, praising the author for his unbiased account of the colony. Thompson was a Cape Town merchant and his travels were made “partly from motives of business, partly from the impulse of curiosity”. His description of the regions surrounding the Orange river and Bechuanaland “is recognised as the most important… [work] published in the early part of the nineteenth century” (Mendelssohn). cf. Mendelssohn p493/4; Abbey, 330.
