Description
First Brussels edition of François Le Vaillant’s celebrated travel account of southern Africa, published in 1791 by Benoit Le Francq in five octavo volumes. Le Vaillant, a French naturalist attached to the Dutch East India Company, traveled from the Cape of Good Hope into the African interior between 1780 and 1785, documenting the region’s wildlife and inhabitants in a manner unusual for his time. The Brussels printing is among the earliest continental issues and includes both voyages in their entirety, with thirty-four engraved plates comprising twelve from the first voyage and twenty-two from the second, including the notorious censored Hottentot woman plate. Very Good condition: bindings tight and secure in quarter leather and marbled boards, spines gilt and pleasing, corners sound, pages untrimmed, mildly toned with occasional foxing. Octavo (8vo), five volumes. Collation: Vol. I xx, 274 pp.; Vol. II [2], 287 [1] pp.; Vol. III [2], xxxii, 191 [1] pp.; Vol. IV [4], 264 pp.; Vol. V [4], 327 [1] pp. Illustrations: Thirty-four engraved plates. Edition: First Brussels Edition, 1791. References: Sabin 39812; Mendelssohn I, 889 ff. #29657 PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
