A Narrative of a Visit to the Mauritius and South Africa

Demy 8vo; half calf with marbled boards; spine tooled in compartments, with gilt-ruled bands; lettering-pieces to second and fourth compartments; new endpapers; tinted edges; pp. xvi + 648 + lvi; two folding maps; 16 etchings, wood-cuts in text.  Spine lettering dull; sporadic moderate foxing and light soiling; some repairs to reverse of large South Africa map.  A very good copy, tastefully rebound.  (Mendelssohn I, p. 62; Hosken, p. 9) 

"The book is in the form of a diary, and the author seems to have traversed every part of South Africa where there was a Mission Station or a missionary.  In this way he appears to have met almost every prominent man connected with Mission work in South Africa at this time. ... Mr. Backhouse had evidently a good knowledge of botany, and throughout the volume there are ample descriptions of the flora of the country. ... There is a good description of Kaffraria, and of the Basuto, Griqua, and Bechuana countries, and the account of the Cape Colony affords valuable information concerning the first part of the nineteenth century." (Mendelssohn I, p. 62)