back to search results place the mouse over an image to zoom

The Slave Castle Cormantin, on the Gold Coast, Ghana.

Dapper, Olfert. Jacob van Meurs. Castle Cormantin. " Kasteel van Cormantin. Chateua de Cormantin." Amsterdam Wolfgangh, Waesbergen, Boom. Someren en Goethals 1686
Copper engraved double page view of the castle of Cormantin, Ghana, from Olfert Dapper's "Description de l'Afrique," the first edition in French; black and white, verso blank.
The view shows the castle of Cormantin, on the Gold Coast, Ghana with ships to the foreground exchanging fire; title on decorative banner to sky.
The castle was built by the English between 1631 and 1645 as Fort Cormantine or Fort Courmantyne, it became the centre for British trade in gold and slaves particularly after the British capture of Jamaica in 1655 when there was a rise in demand for slave labour. Cormantin met that demand and led to slaves in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Americas becoming known as Coromantees.
The lucrative gold and slave trade attracted the attention of the Dutch who captured the castle under admiral Engel de Ruyter of the Dutch West India Company in 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch war. It was subsequently made part of the Dutch Gold Coast and renamed Fort Amsterdam; the fort was traded with the British in 1868. Dark impression; light toning; slight offsetting;some spotting mainly to blank margins; old ink number to upper margin.; chips to lower edges .

Olfert Dapper (1639-1689)
was a Dutch physician and scholar devoted to historical and geographical studies.
He produced several finely illustrated volumes describing travels in Africa, Asia, Asia Minor, the Middle East, drawing upon the most reliable eye-witness accounts as well as his own library of travel books. His works were authoritative and very popular, and especially noteworthy for their excellent illustrations and maps.

First edition in French of Dapper's"Description de l'Afrique, contenant Les Noms, la Situation & les Confins de toutes ses Parties, leurs Rivières, leurs Villes & leurs Habitations, leurs Plantes & leurs Animaux ; les Moeurs, les Coûtumes, la Langue, les Richesses, la Religion & le Gouvernement de ses Peuples. Avec Des Cartes des Etats, des Provinces & des Villes, & des Figures en Taille-douce, qui représentent les habits & les principales Ceremonies des Habitans, les Plantes & les Animaux les moins connus. Traduite du Flamand"originally published in Dutch in 1668 as "Naukeurige Beschrijvingen der Afrikaensche gewesten" & "Naukeurige beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche Eylanden "


Dapper's Description of Africa:"covers the entire continent - the Islamic north, from Morocco to Egypt, Abyssinia, central and southern Africa, and Madagascar, Malta, the Canaries and other islands of the African coast" (Alastair Hamilton, Europe and the Arab World, page 26). Although he had never visited Africa, Dapper's book is still of considerable value, because he made use not only of published sources (especially De Marees), but also of manuscripts which have now been; lost he relied very heavily on records of the Dutch West India Company, especially a collection made by Samuel Bloomaerts, one of its officials.
His work became well-known, and is still a key text for Africanists.
It was translated into English by John Ogilby and published in 1670, when a German translation was also published. There was a second Dutch edition in 1676 and the first French translation was published ten years later.
Mendelssohn I, p.413. Cox I, p. 361; Gay 219.; Patience Essah; "The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, "Volume 1 p195 . 244 by 337mm (9½ by 13¼ inches).   ref: 2466  €120

Company: Bryan, Mary Louise. Address: Ag. Andrianoy 92 , 21 100 Nafplio, Greece.
Vat No: EL 119092581