LEHRBUCH DER OVAMBO-SPRACHE OSIKUANJAMA

8vo; original red cloth, lettered in gilt on spine and upper cover; pp. XII + 235. Cloth lightly sunned and a little mottled; earlier owner's hand-stamp to bottom edge; merest trace of foxing; occasional pencilled marginalia and highlighting. Very good condition.

(Murphy & Goff 1139; Strange Collection 1514; Schapera L292; Doke Collection, p. 239; Work, p. 90) Early Oshikwanyama text. Translation of opening portion of German introduction: "To the north of our South West African colony lies Ovamboland, which has been mentioned very often recently. This is a vast territory, crisscrossed by broad forest belts, in which a number of different tribes live. They all belong to the large family of Bantu peoples. Each of them has its own customs and traditions, as well as its own particular dialect, which is often very different from that of the others. The largest and most populous of all the tribes is Oukuanjama. The number of its inhabitants, the Ovakuanjama, is probably not too high at 80,000. This textbook deals with the language of this tribe, Osikuanjama."