Very rare album with four beautiful hand-coloured aquatint views, together with an original watercolour of the third plate. The plates accompany Albertis ethnographic monograph on the Xhosa people ("Kaffers") of South Africa, here included in its first Dutch edition. This was the first ethnographic monograph which appeared in the Netherlands. Even though the plates are mentioned in the preface of the text volume, they are often lacking. We are also not aware of any other copies that include an original watercolour.
The four plates are accompanied by one explanatory text leaf. The first plate shows the Xhosa people dancing, some resting near a small fire, with their village, their cattle, and a lake in the background; the second shows the Xhosa's travelling through the mountains, together with their dogs and heavily packed cattle; the third shows a meeting between Jan Willem Janssens (1762-1838), governor of the Cape Colony, and Gaïka, chieftain of the Xhosa, near the Kat River in 1803; and the last gives a view of Fort Frederick and the Algoa Bay, with some people on its shores. All the plates are brightly coloured and remarkably fresh and lively, evoking the beauty of the African landscape and the culture of the Xhosa.
The plates were copied after drawings by Otto Christopher baron von der Howen (1774-1848) and Jacob Smies (1765-1833), which in turn were copied after drawings by Willem Bartholomé Eduard Paravicini di Capelli (1778-1848). The latter had accompanied Jan Willem Janssens on the trip depicted on the plates, and had drawn the scenes from life. The included watercolour is not signed, but might be the drawing by Howen and Smies. It is nearly identical to the plates, but differs only in some minor details.
Born in Germany, Lodewyk Alberti (1768-1812) came to the Netherlands in 1784 as lieutenant in the Dutch army, and left for the Cape in 1802 to accompany Janssens. He successfully kept the peace between Xhosas, Khoisan and European colonists, but conflicts flared up soon after he left in 1806. His account of the "Kaffers", which he wrote in German, first appeared in the present Dutch translation by J. Konynenburg, and the later French and German editions were unauthorized. He describes the situation and climate of Caffria, as well as the appearance and physical strength of the Xhosa, but mainly focuses on their culture, hereby closely following the guidelines for ethnographic research as set out by Joseph-Marie de Gérando (1772-1842).
Ad 1: The letterpress leaf is slightly foxed and creased, some of the plates have small stains in the margins; ad 2: numbered "No. 16." by hand in the head margin. The leaf is slightly browned, with a small hole and tear in the upper part of the work that have been repaired on the back, which has caused slight discolourations; ad 3: the work has been rebacked and recased, with new endpapers, the boards are somewhat scratched and dented. The work is slightly browned throughout. Otherwise in good condition. Gay, Bibl. de l'Afrique et l'Arabe 3153 (French & Dutch text only); Mendelssohn I, pp. 17-18; Landwehr, Coloured plates 217; cf. Bobins collection 68 (French text & album); Huigen, Knowledge and colonialism: Eighteenth-century travelers in South-Africa, p. 191-208.