Apr 12, 2012 - Sale 2275
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Sale 2275 - Lot 91

Price Realized: $ 4,800
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
(SOUTH AFRICA.) Journal of a Tour around the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. manuscript in english, written in cursive script in brown ink on laid paper. 74 leaves, including around a dozen blanks. 178x120 mm, contemporary vellum wraparound binding with silver catch and clasp; marginal dampstaining through most of manuscript, occasional light soiling, outer portion of front blank torn out. 15 September-7 November 1817 [with later additions]
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Additional Details

In the first 40 leaves of the manuscript the anonymous author describes his tour of nearly 2 months in the Cape Colony accompanying a judicial commission made up of 2 judges, 2 clerks, and a secretary. "As very great abuses were committed in the distant districts from the Cape and the Law not being at all understood it was first appointed by His Excellency L[or]d Callendon [i. e., Caledon], Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, and has been very beneficial to the Colony." The commission travelled by ox wagon and pony from Cape Town inland to Graaf-Reinet, then south to Uitenhage, and from there followed the modern-day Garden Route along the coast via Plettenberg Bay, Knysna, George, Mossel Bay, Swellendam, and Caledon back to Cape Town. While it contains a variety of observations about local conditions, inhabitants, and wildlife, the journal is of particular interest for its account of the criminal cases handled by the commission. The remainder of the manuscript consists of miscellaneous notes and jottings added later and partly written from back to front, including a description of the island of St. Helena and entries on a voyage from Colombo to Madras, with copies of letters calling for an inquiry into the seaworthiness of the vessel.