THE NARRATIVE OF AN EXPLORER IN TROPICAL SOUTH AFRICA

First Edition: xiv + 314 pages, tinted lithographic frontispiece, coloured folding map of Damaraland with an inset of Africa - repaired at the folds, 3 tinted lithographic plates, 1 full page engraved plate of Nangoro King of the Ovampo, 4 engraved illustrations in the text, half maroon leather gilt with matching cloth sides, small repair at the top corner of the title page, contents bright, The ex-libris of General Louis Botha’s Rusthof (his farm near Standerton) Library on the front-paste down endpaper and signed by his wife Annie Botha, another bookplate on the front free endpaper, a very good copy.

Mendelssohn (Sydney) South African Bibliography, volume 1, page 585, 'The first edition of a very reliable account of an expedition to  Damaraland and Ovampoland 1850-1852. The author was fortunate in finding so experienced a traveller as C.J. Andersson to accompany him.'

According to the Dictionary of South African Biography, volume 3, page 316, 'This book, besides dealing with the events of travel, has much to say on the histories and customs of the tribes and the nature of the regions they inhabited. His writing is informative, accurate, lively and shrewd, and it admirably reflects the state of affairs in the country at that period.' Galton was a Victorian polymath and gained distinction in a number of fields. Amongst other things he was the inventor of fingerprinting.