Author: KOLB, Peter.
Title: Description du Cap de Bonne-Esperance, òu l'on trouve tout ce qui concerne l'histoire-naturelle du pays; la religion, les moeurs & les usages des Hottentots; et l'établissement des Hollandois.
Description: Amsterdam, Jean Catuffe, 1742. 3 volumes. Sm.8vo. Later half calf, spines ribbed. With titles printed in red and black, engraved allegorical frontispiece, 5 folding engraved maps and 25 engraved plates (1 folding). XIII,(11),428; (12),262; (16),320 pp. First French edition, first published in German in Nürnberg in 1719 Caput Bonae Spei. Das ist vollständige Beschreibung des Akrikanischen Vorgebürges der Guten Hofnung. - Peter Kolb (1676-1726), a German astronomer, was sent to the Cape by Baron von Krosick in 1705. From 1707 till April 1713 he was secretary in service by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) at Stellenbosch. Of the utmost importance is the section on the plants and on the animals of that region, being the earliest account of South African fauna. 'Peter Kolb published one of the first works in German devoted entirely to the Cape region of South Africa. His work divides equally between the natural history of the Cape and a description of the Hottentot (Khoi) people, explaining their manners and customs in great detail' (Howgego p.577). A detailed description of day-to-day life at the Cape (The Paolo Bianchi collection 206). - (1 leaf sl. damaged with some loss of text). - Fine set. Tiele 606; Cat. NHSM I, p.207; Landwehr, VOC, 585; Cf. Mendelssohn I, p.843-44; SAB III, p.6; Rookmaaker, The zoological exploration of Southern Africa 1650-1790, p.29.

Keywords: Africa Dutch travel South Africa VOC Africa