To the Cape for Diamonds. A story of digging experiences in South Africa

The copy of what is now a rare book is of particularly interest for the dedication in ink on the front free endpaper: "A poor author to his friend George Dolley, Dec 16th 1872". As the book was published in 1873, this will have been one of the author's prepublication copies.

The copy is full-bound in green cloth-boards, with embossed designs to both panels and gilt lettering to the spine. Plain endpapers, xix + 415 pp of text and appendices + folding map opposite the first text page.

The binding has been strengthened with a matching Skivertex spine, with the original spine laid down, and new endpapers, preserving the original free leaves front (with the dedication referred to) and back.

The copy is complete and the condition is now better than good, unmarked except for the dedication, and undiscoloured except for the lightly sunned (front) or spotted (back) free endpapers.

The book's opening is a chapter that is both a brilliant description of Boyle's voyage to South Africa and a scathing indictment of the Union Mail Company, its steamship, Cambrian [and its chief engineer], which was inadequately coaled, which developed a dangerous list, and which eventually reached the coast off Saldanha Bay, which the author and others reached by boat and made the remaining 72 miles to Cape Town overland (described in Chapter II).

Twenty-four further chapters follow, and then:

Supplementary. A. On some peculiarities of the diamond as found in South Africa.

Supplementary. B. Prospect of the diamond fields.

and four valuable Appendices (but no index):

I. Proclamations annexing and regulating the Territory Griqualand West.

II. The Free State Ordinance for administering affairs upon the diamond fields.

III. Rules and regulations for the Dorstfontein (Dutoitspan) diggings.

IV. The second New Rush riots.