East Prospect of Cape Corse or Coast Castle from Thomas Astley Voyages 1745-1747

ASTLEY, Thomas; PARR, N: East Prospect of Cape Corse, or Coast Castle
 
London, in A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. II, 1745-47.

Copper engraving, plate 181, no. 103, vol. 2, p. 393. Image area c. 340 × 220 mm (sheet slightly larger, untrimmed). Engraved by N. Parr after the survey of William Smith, 1727. On laid paper, with deckle edges; light overall toning and a few edge nicks and tears; small marginal manuscript annotation “Guinea” at left in early hand; otherwise good.
 
Large plate showing Cape Coast Castle, the principal British fort and administrative centre on the Gold Coast, seat of the Royal African Company and a central node in the Atlantic slave trade. The upper prospect presents the interior courtyard with Union flag flying, the lower a fortified sea-front elevation with shipping offshore; at right a detailed plan of the castle and gardens, and at left a ground plan of the works and parade. The engraved key identifies the gate, warehouses, barracks, chapel, platform of guns, and associated structures.
 
From Astley’s influential English edition of global voyages, which synthesised earlier travel accounts and surveys for a British readership at the height of imperial and commercial expansion.