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JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD by Sir Percy FitzPatrick

Here is an absolute rarity, and one of the cornerstone Africana titles.

SIGNED on the title page by J Percy Fitzpatrick. His full name was Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick.

The textblock has been recased in nicer boards.

Illustrated by E.Caldwell

1907, First edition, First impression. 475 pages, colour frontispiece, plates and marginal illustrations, dark green cloth with gilt titling and gilt vignette of Jock on the upper cover, with the drawings of a dung beetle pushing his load with his front legs rather than his back legs on pages 65, 337 and 457 and Snowball the horse being dragged out of the river on page 316 - these drawings were changed in later impressions.

5000 copies of the first impression were printed at a total cost to Longmans of £416. 7s. 11d.

The dedications page reads: It was the youngest of the High Authorities who gravely informed the Inquiring Stranger that “Jock belongs to the Likkle People!” That being so, it is clearly the duty, no less less that the privilege, of the mere Narrator to dedicate the Story of Jock to those Keenest and Kindest critics, Best of Friends, and Most Delightful of Comrades The Likkle People.

Fitzpatrick's adventures during this time of his life, when he was pioneering in the Bushveld, are vividly described in his book JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD, which is generally accepted as a South African classic.

In the early 1900's he used to recount the adventures of his dog Jock (a Staffordshire Bull terrier cross), in the form of bedtime stories to his four children — Nugent, Alan, Oliver, and Cecily — to whom the book was dedicated - the likkle people.

Rudyard Kipling, an intimate friend, used to take part in these story-telling evenings and he it was who persuaded Fitzpatrick to put the stories together in book form. Having done this, Fitzpatrick searched for a suitable artist to illustrate the book and eventually came across Edmund Caldwell in London and brought him to South Africa to visit the Bushveld and make the drawings on the spot.

The book, which appeared in 1907 for the first time, was an immediate and overwhelming success, being reprinted four times in that year.

Wild Sports of Southern Africa by William Cornwallis Harris

Being the Narrative of a Hunting Expedition from the Cape of Good Hope Through the Territories of the Chief Moselekatse to the Tropic of Capricorn

RARE BRITISH EDITION

Publisher: Pelham Richardson

Place: London

Date: 1844

Contents complete with all plates present and fold-out map at rear. The strikingly handsome ORIGINAL publisher's binding has been rebacked at some point, yet is still in good condition with only age-related wear, especially to crown, heel, corners. Boards bowed a bit. Foxing is more noticeable on the earlier pages. Fourth overall edition (3rd British edition after the 1st [1839] and 2nd [1841]), and a preferred edition as the first edition did not include the hand-colored lithographic plates. Illustrated with 26 hand-colored lithographed plates, folding map at rear.

The original upper cover decorative panel portraying in gilt four animals: lion, giraffe, gnu, and elephant. For its age the book is in very good condition.

One of the greatest 19th century works on African game and a true canon-title of the genre. Harris' narrative goes far beyond big-game hunting and is a valuable look into Africa of the mid-19th century. Harris provides, through both the text and the lithographic plates, a look at some of the fauna and indigenous peoples of the region. This work is regarded as the first book concerning the hunting of game animals in Africa -- the first African Safari narrative -- and is a cornerstone work of the African oeuvre. The plates themselves are highly noteworthy. The images are dynamic and capture the movements, the very nuances, of the subjects. In many cases these were among the earliest glimpses Western peoples experienced of these fascinating animals and peoples.

From the editor's note to the Struik Africana Collectanea reprint: 'This is not only a book about 'Wild Sports' but is a very interesting report of such important historical events as: The Great Trek; the massacre of Piet Retief and his party by Dingaan; the fall of Piet Uys in an abortive invasion of the Zulu territories; the death of Maritz; the annihilation of the Natal Settlers; etc.

'The author and his party travelled by wagon and oxen to Grahamstown, Somerset, Graaff Reinet, New Lattakoo, through Griqualand and Bechuanaland, to Boksfontein, Cambellsdorp and Kuruman through the domains of the Matabele King and the Barolong country, and returned to Graaff Reinet by the Vaal River Route.

'He gives interesting accounts of the Matabele people and experiences with the Bushmen, Hottentots and other tribes. His stay with King Moselekatse is fully described and of great historical value.

'An interesting map 'exhibiting the relative positions of the emigrant farmers and the native tribes' is included.'

TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF SOUTH AFRICA by James Chapman

Comprising Fifteen Years' Hunting and Trading; With Journeys Across the Continent From Natal to Walvisch Bay, and Visits to Lake Ngami and the Victoria Falls

1868 Bell & Daldy, London, First Edition: 2 volumes. These original first editions are very, very rare.

NO OTHER COPY FOR SALE ANYWHERE ELSE AT THE TIME OF LISTING

The folding map is facsimile. The outer cloth hinge of volume 2 has a split from the middle of the left to the heel and half way across the spine, as can be seen in the photos. The images I have provided demonstrate the condition of these volumes, which have signs of use and wear/tear and age to the original decorative publisher's cloth binding and inner hinges.

Ink ownership stamp of Saul Solomon. Solomon worked as an apprentice in a printing business that he eventually acquired and built into the largest printing business in Cape Colony. He founded the Cape Argus newspaper. He was also one of the founders of Old Mutual, today one of the largest insurance firms in South Africa. As representative for Cape Town, Solomon entered the very first Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Parliament) when it opened in 1854. He remained an MP for this constituency until his retirement in 1883.

Chapman travelled some with Thomas Baines and also crossed paths with Charles John Andersson, but not David Livingstone, though they were out and about at the same time.

https://www.southafricabooks.com/authors/james-chapman

Mendelsson (Sidney) South African Bibliography vol. 1 page 321 -322: Starting from Natal, Mr Chapman traversed the eastern portion of the Orange Free State by three distinct routes, and pursuing his travels through the Western Transvaal and Bechuanaland, penetrated up to the almost unknown regions of Matableland. He also visited Walvisch Bay and Lake Ngami, and journeyed through the country of the Namaquas and Damaras.' Few South African books give better descriptions of the sport of the country and the habits and customs of the native races inhabiting the vast areas traversed, and throughout the volumes there are copious notes on the flora and fauna of the countries visited, amplified by the contents of a valuable index enriched with extracts from the works of able writers.

Kennedy(R.F.) Africana Repository, page 40, 'Baines then joined Chapman's expedition through South West Africa to the Victoria Falls….This expedition up to August 1862 Baines described in his "Explorations in South-West Africa" (London 1864)….Chapman was very angry with Baines because Baines published first and had acquired fame by exhibiting his pictures of the Victoria Falls. In a preface to Chapman's book acknowledgement is made to Charles Bell "for drawings and sketches used in illustrating these volumes". Some of the illustrations are undoubtedly after Bell, who was not a member of the expedition; some of the pictures are by Baines, but without acknowledgement. It was a pity they quarrelled because they had been friends from their first meeting in Potchefstroom in 1850.'

David Livingstone

J.W. Bradley, Philadelphia, 1860

The edition offered here is the only one issued with color lithograph plates, and is rare.

12 chromolithograph plates.

David Livingstone (1813-73) undertook three great journeys through Africa, exploring vast regions unknown to Europeans. Appalled at the terrible effects of the slave trade on African life, he became a fierce abolitionist. His "Missionary Travels" was first published in London, 1857, and in Philadelphia the following year.

THE NARRATIVE OF AN EXPLORER IN TROPICAL SOUTH AFRICA

by Francis Galton

John Murray, London, 1853. First edition, first printing

Sturdily rebound first edition. Complete with four color chromolithographs, one monochrome plate, and four in-text engravings, plus colored folding map.

Galton traveled and explored with Charles John Andersson, and Andersson's account of the same expedition is titled LAKE NGAMI.

Francis Galton's brilliant travel account of his time spent exploring the Tropics of South Africa. At the time of this expedition South West Africa was still little explored, with his vivid account filling in the gaps of knowledge relating to the areas between the Cape Colony and the western Portuguese settlements, and towards Lake Ngami. Galton travelled in a party of nearly forty men. Galton was a noted polymath, a proponent on social Darwinism (Galton and Darwin were cousins).

THE FAR INTERIOR by Walter Montagu Kerr

A narrative of travel and adventure from the Cape of Good Hope across the Zambesi to the lake regions of Central Africa

Published in London in 1886 by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1st British edition

First edition. Two Volumes: Frontispiece portrait of the author in volume 1 (an actual sepia photograph is mounted), engraved frontispiece in volume 2, numerous illustrations on plates as well as in-text, folding map at the end of volume 2 with the author's route indicated in red.

Mendelssohn (Sydney) South African Bibliography, volume 1, pages 812/3, ‘Mr. Kerr remarks that he did not carry out “an expedition in the accepted meaning of that term,” observing, “My journey was under- taken alone ; I was unaided, and had no companionship of white men, neither had I a corps of regularly enlisted carriers.” He claims that, under these circumstances, the recital of his experiences “should present a very clear reflection of the natural life of some of the races in South- East Equatorial Africa,” as he travelled free from the “natural suspicion or prejudice” which generally prevails among the natives when “regularly organised bodies of men, total strangers to the communities they meet with,” pass through their country. He says, “I lived during a large stretch of my travels as the Kaffirs lived, mingling freely with them, and my opportunities ... for observing closely the modes and conditions of native life were unusually good.” Mr. Kerr was “the first white to traverse the great extent of territory stretching between Cape Colony and the Lake Regions of Central Africa,” and his account of Lobengula, his capital, harem, and the inhabitants of his country is vivid and picturesque, affording a capital description of the state of the country at this period, with interesting notes regarding the few white inhabitants then residing there.

In discussing the gold regions between Matabeleland and Tete, the author maintains that he has “been careful to speak of things just as he found them without colour and without gloom,” but he had not discovered anything of so certain a nature that he could “speak with hope and confidence of success in that direction.” The work is an important contribution to the history of exploration in South-East Equatorial Africa, and contains an excellent account of the physical features of these regions, and of their fauna, inhabitants, &c, and the volume contains a portrait of the author, a number of illustrations, and a route map.’

TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA by John Campbell

Undertaken At the Request of the Missionary Society, Being a Narrative of a Second Journey in the Interior of That Country

Francis Westley, London, 1822. First edition, first printing

Only one of the illustrations is an original hand-colored aquatint, all of the others are facsimile reproductions, for a total of 12 illustrations. The large folding map is a facsimile. 2 leaves of text are also facsimile. This book was formerly in the Johannesburg Public Library (South Africa) collection.

John Campbell (1766-1840) was a Scottish missionary and traveler. He was passionate about Christian philanthropy, which led to his founding of the Magdalene Society in 1793 and the Missionary Magazine (Edinburgh) in 1796. He travelled to preach in neglected villages, promoting the establishment of Sunday schools. The Magdalen Asylum to help prostitutes in England and Glasgow, founded by Campbell, was one of several societies he created to help those in need. He opposed the slave trade and became involved in the Society for the Education of Africans. Through collaboration with James Alexander Haldane, he brought 30-40 African children to England to be educated. In 1812 he was sent by the London Missionary Society to inspect mission stations at the Cape. His account of the trip was published in 1815 on his return, titled "Travels in South Africa, undertaken at the request of the Missionary Society". Campbell returned to the Cape in 1819, this time to improve those mission stations that had fallen into neglect. In 1820, he travelled north from Cape to Mosega in Barotseland and the Kaditshwene settlement near the Limpopo River. He left Cape for England in 1821 and published two further volumes covering his journey.

NEW TRAVELS INTO SOUTH AFRICA

by Francoise Le Vaillant

London, Robinson, 1796, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH

Three of the original illustrations, as well as the map, are missing but provided in facsimile (see last photos). The books have been used and enjoyed these many years but were recently beautifully rebound by hand. (see all photos).

Francois Le Vaillant (also Levaillant) wished to undertake a major journey to a region that had not yet been studied by an ornithologist. In July 1780 he left Paris to visit the owners of natural history collections in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam he met Jacob Temminck, bird collector and treasurer of the Dutch East India Company, who played a role in his decision to go to the Cape of Good Hope and helped in the preparations for the journey. Le Vaillant left in December 1780 (a day before war broke out between England and the Netherlands) and arrived in Cape Town on 14 April 1781. During his stay at the Cape Le Vaillant made two extensive journeys into the interior. The first, from December 1781 to (probably) October 1782, proceeded eastward via Swellendam and Mossel Bay to the vicinity of George, across the Outeniqua Mountains to the Langkloof, eastwards beyond the Sundays River, and past present Somerset East to the Great Fish River near Cookhouse.

Personal Adventure in South Africa by Reverend George Brown

James Blackwood, London, 1855

Rare first edition

This is a very rare book in original cloth binding, with gilt to spine and blindstamp to boards. See the photos, which provide the best details about condition. Cloth at spine heel splitting, and other wear as expected for a book from 1855.

A missionary's account of the Kaffir war of 1850-2. [The Reverend] Brown was stationed at Igqibira, a small missionary settlement which had been partially destroyed in a previous Kaffir outbreak. Although hostilities broke out almost at the outset of his residence at this place, he remained there for a considerable period, but eventually the station was destroyed, the author escaping to Chumie.

Frederick Russell Burnham

Rare first edition with original dust jacket

Lord Robert Baden-Powell, Cecil John Rhodes, Rhodesia, South Africa, Matabele, H. Rider Haggard, John Hays Hammond

1926, American First Edition, published by Doubleday, NY; 1st impression, book and dust jacket in good condition, considering how other copies are found. I challenge you to find another copy for sale with a dust jacket. Even 1926 first printings without a DJ are very scarce.

Also included: an inscribed page dated 1936.

Dust jacket reinforced on the underside along edges and folds. This presents very nicely on a shelf or when handled.

F.R. Burnham had a huge impact on the founding of Rhodesia. He also greatly influenced Baden-Powell, who founded the Scouting (Boy Scouts) movements. See the Wikipedia page for Burnham, but buy this excellent autobiography by the man himself if you want the truth about his adventures.

Harper, New York, 1861. First edition, first printing

Andersson’s first book, LAKE NGAMI, was published in London in a beautiful and expensive edition, but the American first edition was less impressive in every way. Then, with his second book, OKAVANGO RIVER, the London publisher took less care to produce an edition equally impressive to its edition of LAKE NGAMI, while the American publisher repented of its failure on its edition of LAKE NGAMI, and stepped it up for the first edition of OKAVANGO RIVER.

This first American edition is taller with a higher-quality cloth binding, and the illustrations are equally as nice as those found in the London counterpart-edition. Additionally, this American first edition includes a colored folding map that is NOT found in the London first edition.

Andersson, "perhaps the most extraordinary visitor to Namibia in the 19th century" (Tonchi, p. 24), traversed the difficult country between South Africa and Namibia, obtaining "much valuable information" (Mendelssohn). A description of a hunting expedition through Namaqualand and Damaraland. Andersson intended to explore these countries right up to the Cunene or Nourse River, but the difficulties of the expedition, though encountered with indomitable courage, proved to be insuperable, and he had to turn back. He obtained, however, much valuable information, and his success as a hunter and collector was unique in this part of the continent. The coast-line of South-West Africa is carefully described, and there is an interesting account of the once-famed guano island, Ichaboe. Wallis (J.P.R.) Fortune My Foe (1936), pages 256-258.

Sporting Scenes Amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa by A.W. Drayson

First edition, first printing with 8 chromolithographed color plates & 1 black and white plate by Harrison Weir after drawings by the author. Rebound in half-leather. Some signs of age and use, but overall handsome when handled and shelved.

"An account of hunting and sporting experiences in Kaffraria and Natal. The author joined a party of Boer hunters who were making an excursion into the plains under the Drakensburg mountains, near the sources of the Mooi river. He remarks on the wonderful eyesight possessed by these people and their contempt for the English as sportsmen. There is a good account of the natives with many notes of the fauna of the country." - Mendelssohn

NOTES OF TRAVEL IN SOUTH-WESTERN AFRICA

by Charles John Andersson (edited by L. Lloyd [the author's biological father])

First edition, first printing, of the very, very scarce American publication, 1875, by G.P. Putnam's Sons. The British first edition is also rare, but found more easily than this American edition.

"This is the last record of the adventures of the author, in what is now known as German South-West Africa, the narrative being continued up to the time of his death on the banks of the Cunene River. The volume contains a description of a battle between the Namaquas and Damaras, the latter having been lead by the author, who was severely wounded in the contest. Other chapters contain information respecting the Ovambo, a warlike race in the north, and there are interesting notes about the game birds of the country and the river Cunene" - Mendelssohn

Henry Anderson Bryden

Dedicated to Frederick Courtney F.C. Selous

A decent first British edition from 1896 published by Archibald Constable in Westminster

South African adventure tales.

RARE!

SOLD - ON WAR'S RED TIDE by Gordon Stables

Here is a very rare American 1900 first edition

A novel set during the Boer War in South Africa.

No other copy for sale anywhere else, and this one also comes with a piece of paper with the author's inscription and signature.

The cloth binding on this copy has signs of moisture-damage, more particularly on the bottom half of the rear board, but the textblock and pages from title-page to the last page are unaffected. Frontispiece a bit warped.

Harry Collingwood

IN THE POWER OF THE ENEMY

A novel set in South Africa

This publication is an interesting one. I have owned 3 copies of this book, and though they all had 2 illustrations, none had the same illustrations.

So, I removed the 2 images that were present in another copy, and loosely laid them into this copy, so now this copy has 4 illustrations.

ONE-OF-A-KIND and ready for your collection.

Harry Collingwood THROUGH VELD AND FOREST

An African Story

A nice first British edition from 1914 with beautiful color illustrations by Arch Webb.

Blackie is known for publishing pretty editions.

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