SPARRMAN, ANDERS.

Resa till Goda Hopps - Udden, Södra Pol-kretsen och omkring Jordklotet, samt till Hottentott- och Caffer-landen, Åren 1772-76. Första Delen.

Stockholm, Anders J. Nordström, 1783.

8vo. Contemp. hcalf. Raised bands, gilt spine, titlelabel with gilt lettering. A very small nick to foot of spine. XV,766 pp., 9 folded engraved plates, 1 large folded engraved map. A fine clean copy.

The scarce first edition (the first part only, but alone-standing) of Sparrman's famous travelling account which has been called the '"most trustworthy account of the Cape Colony and the various races of people then residing in it" that had been published in the 18th century. The work is one of the most important investigations of the South African fauna in the second half of the 18th century.
He sailed for the Cape of Good Hope in January 1772 to take up a post as a tutor. When James Cook arrived there later in the year at the start of his second voyage, Sparrman was taken on as assistant naturalist to Johann and Georg Forster. After the voyage he returned to Cape Town in July 1775 and practiced medicine, earning enough to finance a journey into the interior.

Du Reitz, Bibliotheca Polynesia, 1218
Mendelssohn 4, p. 360

Order-nr.: 50619