Rambles Through the Archives of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 1688-1700. First Series

(Cape Town: J. C. Juta and Co., 1887). Crown 8vo; original dark brown cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, and ruled in blind to margins of boards; pp. xvi + 205. Lower joint chafed; bequest bookplate to front pastedown, and some library stamps and codes elsewhere; somewhat foxed. Good condition. (Mendelssohn I, p. 877) 'In the first chapter of the work Mr. Leibbrandt observes that he "proposed to lay before the reader ... some of the most remarkable events embraced within the period of the administration of Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel, a man hitherto considered as the embodiment of tyranny, cruelty, and oppression, because judged only from the description of his enemies, and without the light of evidence which places him in a more favourable view." A large part of the little volume is taken up by extracts from the Archives, showing how the difficulties which surrounded the Governor were the result of legacies from his predecessors. Considerable information is afforded respecting Simon van der Stel's tenure of office, and the early history of the Huguenots in the Colony, recording the suspicions attaching to them, and the determination of the authorities that they should be assimilated with the Dutch population of the Colony.' - Mendelssohn .