DAPPER (Olfert). Description de l'Afrique, contenant les noms, la situation et les confins de toutes ses parties, et leurs animaux, les mœurs, les coutumes, la langue, les richesses, la religion et le gouvernement de ses peuples. Amsterdam, Wolfgang, Waesberge, Boom and van Someren, 1686. In-folio, mottled calf, coats of arms in the centre, spine decorated, mottled edges (period binding). First French edition of this very important work on the African continent, translated from Dutch based on the Dutch editions of 1668 and 1676. Sumptuously engraved intaglio illustration, comprising a title-frontispiece, a large fold-out map of Africa, 28 plates and 14 double-page out-of-text maps and 55 figures in the text. Dutch physician and geographer Olfert Dapper (1636-1689) wrote numerous works describing Africa, China, Persia and Georgia, Arabia, etc., apparently without ever having left the Netherlands. The plates in his works, which were accurate and extremely well executed, ensured that his work became very well known. The Description de l'Afrique is his best-known work. Although some of the data must be examined with caution, it is still a fundamental source for Africanists. A very fine copy bearing the arms of Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld, duc de La Rochefoucauld et de La Roche-Guyon, prince de Marsillac, marquis de Liancourt, with the library stamp of the château de La Roche-Guyon on the title. Darker stains on the boards not affecting the beauty of the copy, marginal repair to a plate without affecting the engraving, some scattered foxing. OHR, 710/1.