DAPPER (Olfert): DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA, Containing The Names - Lot 299

  2. Result
  3. DAPPER (Olfert): DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA, Containing The Names - Lot 299
  4. Lot n° 299 
Lot n° 299
Go to lot
Estimation :
3000 - 4000 EUR
DAPPER (Olfert): DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA, Containing The Names - Lot 299
DAPPER (Olfert): DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA, Containing The Names, Situation and Boundaries of all its Parts, their Rivers, Towns and Dwellings, their Plants and Animals, the Manners, Customs, Language, Wealth, Religion and Government of its Peoples, With Maps of the States, Provinces and Towns, and Figures in Mild Size, Representing the Habits and Principal Ceremonies of the Inhabitants, the Plants and Animals Amsterdam, Wolgang, Waesberge, Boom Van Someren, 1686. In-folio half green long-grained morocco, spine ribbed and decorated (19th century binding, corners worn). Rare first edition of the French translation of this beautiful book on Africa, complete with frontispiece, 2 folded maps, 3 double-page engravings, 40 plates out of text and 55 intaglio engravings in text. The most important work of synthesis devoted to Africa in the second half of the 17th century. The Description de l'Afrique, published in Dutch in Amsterdam in 1668, was translated into French in 1686. Dutch physician and geographer Olfert Dapper (1635-1689) is honest enough to draw the reader's attention (p. 219) to the difficulty of dealing in general with the soil, manners and customs of the African continent "... because they are composed of too many nations ". His work is indeed worth more by the multiplicity and the exactitude of the details than by the general views. For its realization, Dapper was assisted by one of the most eminent professors of the University of Leiden, Isaac Vossius. The entire continent is covered - the Islamic north, from Morocco to Egypt, Abyssinia, central and southern Africa, Madagascar, Malta, the Canary Islands and other islands along the African coast. No other work of his time could compare with it and it will remain among the sources that later geographers will use most often. Nice copy, very fresh.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue