A Century of Wrong

"Review of Reviews"Office, Mowbray House, Norfolk Street, W.C. London, 1900 first English edition. Hardcover, 152 pages, 155 x 225mm, book in good to very good condition. Name of previous owner in front.

At the advent of the South African War, F.W. Reitz, in his capacity of State Secretary of the South African Republic, published an overview of Anglo-Boer relations in the nineteenth century in Dutch, under the title: Eene eeuw van onrecht. The book was an important propaganda document in the war. The actual authorship of the book is unclear. The second Dutch edition of the book carried the text 'Op last van den staatssekretaris der Z.A.R., F.W. Reitz' ('By order of the State Secretary of the S.A.R., F.W. Reitz'). J.C. Smuts is indicated as author, but probably only edited the introduction and the end of the book, in co-operation with E. J. P. Jorissen. The rest of the text was probably prepared by J. de Villiers Roos. In 1900, translations appeared in German and English. The English translation only carried the name of Reitz, and has a preface by W.T. Stead. The English edition contained more material than the original Dutch edition.

Contents: Preface by Stead, Introduction, The Cape of Good Hope, the Founding of Natal, the Orange Free State, the South African Republic, the Conventions of 1881 and 1884, Capatalistic Jingoism, Conclusion, 4 Appendixes and Index.