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Description
BOSMAN (Willem).
A Voyage to Guinea, containing a new and very accurate description of that coast where gold, elephant tusks and slaves are found and traded.
Utrecht: Antoine Schouten, 1705. — 12mo, 158 x 90: portrait, frontispiece, (8 leaves), 520 pp., 18 plates. Havana calfskin, decorated ribbed spine, gilt inner roulette, red edges (contemporary binding).
A rare first French edition of this account.
Its author, Willem Bosman (1672–17..), a geographer and merchant, records in it the fruits of 14 years spent on the west coast of Africa. He provides a detailed description of the regions and kingdoms, their governments, customs, religion and the administration of the inhabitants, as well as the local flora and fauna. His account is particularly notable for his observations on the slave trade. It is also in this work that the terms ‘Assiantés’ or ‘Aschantis’ first appear, referring to a West African people living in Ghana.
The edition is illustrated with a portrait of the author, a frontispiece and 29 plates spread across 18 fold-out sheets.
A copy from the library of Raymond Jean François Marie Lacave Laplagne Barris (1786–1857) at the Château de Laplagne, President of the Court of Cassation, Peer of France, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, Senator and President of the General Council of the Gers. He was the executor of Louis XVIII’s will. His bookplates have been scraped off.
Spine skilfully rebinded; leather wear on the back cover. Tears in the portrait have been restored, with some damage to the engraving; restoration on the reverse of the frontispiece, as well as on the title page, following the removal of a former bookplate. Tears in the engravings, but no missing sections. A few faint water stains.
Provenance:
Raymond Jean François Marie Lacave Laplagne Barris, with bookplates.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
Claude Mozis Library – Black Africa and the African diaspora
Auction location
Auction time
10/21/2026 at 2:00 PM
Lot description modified on 10/02/2026 at 9:32 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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