SPARRMAN (André). A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, and Around the World with Captain Cook, with a Focus on the Lands of the Hottentots and the Xhosa. Paris: Buisson, 1787. — 2 volumes, in-4, 252 x 196: frontispiece, (2 ff.), xxj pp., (1 f.), 478 pp., 1 map, 6 plates; (2 ff.), 462 pp., (1 blank f.), 9 plates. Marbled calfskin, triple gilt fillet framing the covers, decorated ribbed spine, red edges (contemporary binding). First edition of the French translation by Le Tourneur. It is illustrated with a frontispiece, a large folded map, and 15 separate plates depicting weapons, ornaments, and flora and fauna. The original Swedish edition was published in 1783. Described by Chadenat (1751) as “a very interesting work, providing valuable information on this part of Africa, both from a geographical and a naturalist’s perspective,” this account is the work of André Sparrman (1747–1820), a Swedish naturalist and disciple of Linnaeus. Upon arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in 1772, he met Johann Forster, a naturalist on Cook’s expedition, who was then preparing for his second voyage around the world. Impressed by Sparrman’s knowledge of botany and zoology, Forster, with Cook’s approval, invited him to join them as a botanist. During the expedition, Sparrman discovered new species of birds, including the New Zealand parakeet, the spotted cormorant, and the weka. Upon his return to Cape Town in March 1775, he became the first European to undertake a journey into the interior, beginning in July. His nine-month journey allowed him to study up close animal species then unknown in Europe, such as wild elephants and hyenas (which he named “wolf-tigers”), as well as to provide the first accurate descriptions of the African rhinoceros, the Cape buffalo, the Cape jerboa, and various African lizards. Upon his return to Sweden in 1776, he was elected president of the Academy of Sciences and director of the Royal Cabinet of Natural History in Stockholm. His account is replete with valuable observations on the flora and fauna, as well as ethnographic details about the peoples he encountered. The work concludes with a glossary of the Xhosa and Hottentot languages. A dulled corner; small wormholes in the binding of the second volume. Corner restoration on folio G2 in the first volume, without damage to the text. A perforation on folio Ff3 in the same volume, affecting the text. A minor wormhole in the lower margin of the first 210 pages of the second volume. Scattered foxing and a few browned folios.