Small full leather manuscript notebook (16mo 160 x110mm ) with marbled endpapers belonging to Selous, in which he details the game he has shot on hunting expeditions from 1876 – 1885. It also includes a section on his accounts and expenses. The front endpapers of the accounts section are torn at the top. The manuscript is in good condition.
Game shot from 1876 -1885
There are 42 hand numbered leaves written on the recto of each one. He details the date and the number of each game species he has shot. Towards the end he has written on both sides of the leaves. Leaf 6 is torn, leaf 2 and 10 are detached. From 1879 there are several leaves with red ink asterisks in his notes with corresponding red ink annotations on the verso (not written by him) Leaf 1 – 10 are written in ink - from leaf 12 - 23 written in pencil. Leaves 24 - 42 have had their numbers torn off at the top right hand corner. From leaf 38 it is written in pen again.
Accounts and Expenses 1879 1882
The notebook flips over to record his accounts and expenses from 1879 - Feb 1882. There are 135 unnumbered pages, mostly written on both sides. Here he describes in detail what he has bought - mainly provisions, or sold – ivory, skins and cartridges, and the amounts he paid or received.
On pages 65 - 69, he has 4 pages with the heading: Lions shot in the interior by Englishmen from 1872 -1880
Together with:
A 4 page letter written to his mother on Christmas Day 1878 from Inyati Amandebele Country. In it he describes in detail hunting elephants for four months in the Mashuna country and how he was ill when he returned. He mentions going to Potchefstroom to get provisions and ammunition for the next year’s hunt. He also refers to his financial situation which is not promising. A transcript of his letter is included.
Accompanying these documents is a detailed descriptive analysis of the notebook and his life written by Mike Tucker entitled Frederick Courteney Selous’ hunting trips from 1876 - 1885 with records from his original game book which is retrieved here:
https://antiquarianauctions.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/Selous-game-journal-1876-1885V2.pdf
This article is to be published in Heritage, the magazine of the Zimbabwe History Society.
It is also interesting to note that the Gutenberg Project has reproduced an e-book of his life as follows:
Life of Frederick Courtenay Selous, D.S.O., by J.G. Millais
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39581/39581-h/39581-h.htm
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