MISSIONARY LABOURS AND SCENES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

Second thousand: 624 pages (8 pages of publisher’s catalogue bound in before the frontispiece), colour frontispiece "The Mission Premises at the Kuruman Station" is printed by the Baxter process, folding map, 8 engraved plates, 8 engraved illustrations in the text, original blind stamped cloth with gilt titling on the spine, edges uncut, bookplate on the front paste-down endpaper. The cloth is dull and rubbed and is worn at the corners and along the edges and is chipped at the top and bottom of the spine, signature of  a previous owner at the top of the title page, small stains on the title page which correspond on the frontispiece opposite, generally the contents are crisp and free of foxing.

Mendelssohn (Sydney) South African Bibliography, volume 2, page 29. 'The preliminary chapters deal with opinions of the author on the origin of the Hottentots, and gives a synopsis of the early work of the London Missionary Society in South Africa, reference being made to the labours of Drs. Vanderkemp and Philip, and other pioneer missionaries who predated Mr. Moffat. The volume gives a valuable account of mission work among the Bechuanas, with notes on the customs of the natives, and a description of the earlier travels of the author... There are some particulars concerning Dr Andrew Smith's expedition into the interior in 1835, and there is an ample account of the labours of the various missionary societies engaged amongst the Bechuanas, Matabeles, Basutos and other races at this period'.

The coloured frontispiece of the Kuruman Station is one of very few illustrations printed by the Baxter process in books of African interest. This plate was also sold separately as a print to raise funds for the work of the mission.