Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #114 begins on 11 Apr 2024

Atkinson (Elizabeth)

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF THE SIEGE OF KIMBERLEY.

Published: Printed for Private Circulation, Bickley, Kent, April, 1926

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October 15th, 1899 – February 15th, 1900.

By My Dear Wife Elizabeth Atkinson.

Printed for Private Circulation.

65 pages, frontispiece portrait of Mrs Atkinson, marbled endpapers, bound in full maroon limp leather, titled gilt along the spine, top edge gilt, other edges uncut, presentation inscription the half title page, contained in the original paper-covered slip case, a fine copy.

The presentation inscription reads, ‘Dr Wynne Thomas. This in remembrance of all you did to help my darling wife through the last heavy years of her weariness & suffering & for the added brightness you were able to bring into her life during that period.’

The account written is in the form of a continuous letter to ‘My own darling mother and all’. Her husband Willie appears to have been an engineer possibly in the employ of De Beers who became a member of the Town Guard. She was a school teacher and describes her efforts to both protect the children and maintain a program of lesson with all the male teachers being occupied in the Town Guard. She describes life in the town and the anticipation of early relief but gradually this anticipation wanes as new filters through of the various battles such as Belmont and Modder River. On a visit to the De Beers workshop and she sees the gun, Long Cecil, which had been manufactured by Mr Labrum, the chief engineer of the company who was later to be killed by a Boer shell. She describes the conditions under which 1400 people sheltered in De Beers mine, ‘Can you imagine the scene, for it is impossible to describe it? The people lining these tunnels, with little children, bundles, and no – or very little – light.’

  • Binding Condition: Fine
  • Overall Condition: Fine
  • Size: 8vo (190 x 130 mm)
  • Sold By: Clarke's Africana & Rare Books
  • Contact Person: Paul Mills
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 021 794 0600
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Visa & Mastercard via PayGate secure links and Bank transfers.
  • Trade Associations: ABA - ILAB, SABDA


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