WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE DARK CONTINENT - Prospectus or "Salesman's" Copy - "Sold by subscription only" (1899)

"War in South Africa and the Dark Continent from Savagery to Civilization."

Publisher's pictorial cloth binding depicting a Boer fighter in the heat of battle flanked by a British soldier and a native warrior.

488pp. Illustrated. Contents clean. Binding good although the rear inner hinge is cracked.

This is a prospectus or "salesman's" copy, so called as it was used to advertise the future "complete" edition for when the war was over and the final chapters could be added. This copy is therefore the true first edition and ends with the Battle of Nicholson's Nek, which was an early phase in the Anglo-Boer War. The potential buyer had a choice of three different bindings and examples of the spines where laid down on the front and rear paste downs (see images). Copies bound in red cloth would cost $1.50 and the leather bound copies would presumably have cost a bit more. Copies bound in a similar fashion to the prospectus with pictorial cloth were to be sold for $2.00. The "Million" or complete edition ended on chapter 62, whereas the prospectus ends on chapter 47.

'One of the numerous compilations published in the United States respecting South Africa at the time of the South African War; the narrative is brought down to September 1901.' - Mendelssohn Vol.I, page 683.