THE KAFIR WARS AND THE BRITISH SETTLERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Unpaginated. 20 Coloured lithographic Plates (including a frontispiece) by T.W. Bowler, with accompanying descriptions by W.R. Thomson, and a preface.

Rebacked, new spine, with titles, tooling and date in gilt. Gilt titles to top board. Elaborate decorative tooling to the margins of the top board, ditto lower board. Ink gift inscription dated 1885 to blank prelim.

Sketches that would form the basis of this volumes were produced by Bowler on a trip to the Eastern frontier districts in the early 1860s. The images produced are considered to be some of Bowler's finest and depict scenes of places that achieved fame in the frontier wars of the period.

Mendelssohn notes that, besides the value of the plates depicting those parts of the country, predominantly confined to the Eastern Cape, the letterpress descriptions provide valuable information about the state of the country at the time.