Add MS 65532 A-C

TABLE BAY: map of Table Bay coast and two profile views of Table Mountain and of the Lion's Head and Lion's Rump, possibly by Capt. G. Lewis; [circa 1799?]. The map probably dates from the first period of British control of the Cape Colony, which began with its takeover from the Dutch East India Company in 1795 and ended with it being handed over to the rule of the short-lived Batavian Republic in 1803, although the Dutch scale on Add. 65532 A suggests that it is derived from a Dutch original. See T. R. H. Davenport, South Africa; a modern history (3rd. ed., Basingstoke, 1987). Captain Lewis is tentatively named as the artist on another profile view of the area sold as Lot 72 in the same auction as this manuscript, and a George Lewis, promoted captain in the Royal Engineers on 24 June 1798, appears in the Army List for 1799. Both the map and the views may have been part of an official report, as they show features of strategic importance such as roads, contours, elevations, and existing defensive constructions. For charts of this area, see Add. 5027, ff. 20-24, drawn circa 1680 by a Dutch artist, and Add. 19824, ff. 2-3, maps of Table Bay and Saldanha Bay drawn in 1752 by John Barrow. Purchased at Christie's, 16 Sept. 1988, lots 71 and 73.