PBA Galleries

vii, [1], 406, [2] ad pp. Illustrated with folding map of Cape of Good Hope, 12 aquatints by Ackermann, and 4 b&w plates drawn variously by Black, Havell, and Stadler. (4to) 28.5x22.5 cm. (11¼x8¾"), early green cloth. First Edition.

‘...the coloured aquatint engravings, whether by Melville or Latrobe, would appear to have been redrawn by R. Cocking, it is of interest that the only merit Latrobe claims for the sketches is that they are 'scrupulously exact in outline'. This accuracy is almost certainly due to the fact that Latrobe used a portable camera obscura to capture the outlines. He twice refers to this camera obscura, once on page 73, when he relates how, when it was standing “in a position which showed the church and the grove, with people passing and repassing”, the Genadendal Hottentots were “exceedingly amused and astonished”. These... aquatints are in three tints, grey, black and brown, with hand water-colouring. They are extremely competent in composition, technique, and colouring, and in the writer's opinion, are superior to most illustrations in other contemporary books of South African travel’ (See Mendelssohn I: 866- 870).