The Story Of My Captivity During The Transvaal War 1899 - 1900 (1900)

Publisher's red cloth binding with gilt titles on spine and author's signature in gilt on the front panel.

xii + 302pp + 32pp publisher's adverts at rear.

Binding solid. Contents clean with some light foxing to prelims. Short cloth split at the top of the front hinge.

'The author, formerly minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Wynberg, near Cape Town, appears to have incurred the bitter hatred of the Transvaal and Free State, as well as the Colonial Boers, on account of his political opinions, which were those of an Afrikander Imperialist Progressive, and his enunciation of his principles on Progressive Platforms appears to have been regarded by them as a political crime. Although a non-combatant, he was seized as a prisoner of war at Lobatsi, and after many threats against his life was removed to Pretoria, where he was confined until the approach of the English. He severely condemns the conduct of the officials of the Transvaal Government during the war, as also the behavior of the Hollanders and the Boers  who came under their influence, but he expresses a kindly feeling for the old burghers who, he says, have been misled and deceived. Mr. Hofmeyr gives a graphic account of his imprisonment, and recounts the many privations and indignities that he and the other prisoners were subjected to; on the other hand, he is careful to note any acts of kindness on the part of his gaolers.' - Mendelssohn Vol. I, page 721