Hendrik Swellengrebel in Africa: Journals of Three Journeys in 1776-1777 [Hendrik Swellengrebel in Afrika: Journalen van Drie Reizen in 1776-1777]

Text in Dutch and English. First edition, first printing. 216pp, with colour plate frontispiece, one further colour plate and occasional maps and illustrations in text. In brown cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering front and spine. Satin ribbon marker bound in. 8vo. Cloth very gently rounded at spine tips. The title page has small and mild creasing. In its original dust jacket, lightly bumped at spine tips, creased at top of front inner flap.

Hendrik Swellengrebel, son of a former Cape Governor, visited the Cape’s hinterland and the land of Xhosa in 1776-77 with an eye to making recommendations for economic development in the region. His journals and the accompanying aquarelles by his artist, Johannes Schumacher, are precise and richly informative about the land, its economy and inhabitants in the late 18th century. They are presented here in the original Dutch and, for the first time, in English translation.