THE WILD SPORTS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (1844) - INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR

Publisher's original brown cloth binding with blind stamped decorative borders and gilt stamped vignette on front and rear panels. Page edges gilt.

xvi + 359pp. + 26 colour plates and a map. Lacks the vignette title page (which precedes the title page) as well as the frontispiece titled "Moselekatse, King of the Amazooloo". This copy therefore contains 24 of the original 26 plates.

INSCRIBED by the author on the front endpaper, "Presented to J. Gurney Hoare Esq. by the author, London, 24th. June 1844."

Inscribed copies of Harris' Wild Sports of Southern Africa are most uncommon.

Harris's account of his hunting expedition is of historical importance as his travels coincided with the Great Trek, and he gives a first-hand account the conditions of the Dutch farmers on their journey to the north of the country.

Mendelssohn (vol.I, pages 689-690) describes this fourth edition as follows:

'This handsome edition possesses two additional chapters, giving a full account of the massacre of Retief and his party by Dingan, the fall of Piet Uys in an abortive invasion of the Zulu territories, the death of Maritz, and the annihilation of the Natal Settlers. It contains twenty-six coloured plates and a map.' 

The Wild Sports of Southern Africa is widely considered a foundational and historically important classic in African hunting and safari literature. It stands as one of the very first books dedicated entirely to recreational big-game hunting and travel on the African continent.

Book has been rebacked with a remnant of the original spine laid down. The corners and bottom edge of the boards have age-associated wear. Internally the book is clean and the hand-coloured lithographic plates are in very good condition.