First French 8vo edition by Sparrman, who sailed round the world with Captain Cook. Most is devoted to South Africa

Sparrman, A.

Voyage au Cap de Bonne-Espérance, et autour du monde avec le capitaine Cook et principalement dans les pays des Hottentots et des Caffres. Avec cartes, figures et planches en taille douce. Traduit par M. Le Tourneur.

Published 1787
Item ID 64081
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Paris, Buisson, 1787. Three volumes in three. 8vo (19.3 x 12.2 cm). 1,155 [xxxii, 390; 367; 366] pp.; double-sized frontispiece, 15 [2; 7; 6] copper-engraved plates and one large, folded engraved map. Contemporary uniform full polished calf. Boards with gilt pattered borders and gilt dentelles. Spine with gilt floral vignettes and green morocco labels with gilt titles. Marbled endpapers.

First French 8vo edition. Translated by M. le Tourneur. Anders Erikson Sparrman (1748-1820), a Swedish naturalist and "One of the most succesful of Linnaeus's apostles" (Stafleu), sailed around the world with Captain Cook on his second voyage; most of this work is devoted to the various travels in South Africa. Originally published in Swedish, this work was soon translated into English, German, Dutch, and French. The French translation, published by Buisson, came in a quarto and an octavo edition. The latter was immediately counterfeited. It can be recognized by several deviations, the most noticeable being a) the typeface is slightly smaller; b) the large, folded map of South Africa has slightly thicker lines, and the word "Giraffe" touches the plate frame; - more peculiar - c) the large, folded frontispiece is engraved in reverse, being a perfect mirror image of the original plate; and - even more apparent - d) the images of African mammals are reversed and reduced in size. The original edition, like this set, has the plates larger, folded, and in fact identical to those in the 4to edition. The first two plates show Hottentot clothes, jewelry, and and weapons. The work also contains the work of Smeathman on termites in French translation and with all the fine plates, usually sold separately from about €500 and up. Plate VII in Volume 2 cut without loss (binder's error). Boards very slightly worn at edges; a few pages with a light, marginal damp-stain, a few spots, mostly in the margins; otherwise a fine set in attractive bindings. Beddie, 1279; Brunet, 19857; Dal, p. 62, 321; Gay, 3125; Sallander, Bibliotheca Walleriana, 20277; Stafleu, Linnaeus and the Linnaeans, p. 153.

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