TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA

First edition. xv, [i], 582 pages, frontispiece portrait engraving of John Campbell, 8 plates – 1 folding, coloured folding map of South Africa with a slight tear at the first fold, full leather binding decorative gilt with brown title labels gilt on the spine, frayed at the edges of the spine, marbled end papers and edges, starting to wear at the front hinge, a very good copy.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography vol.1 page 254 :This book (42 chapters) is an interesting and entertaining account of Campbell's travels and the people and places he visited in the early 19th century. In 1812, on the death of Dr Van der Kemp, the London Missionary Society sent Campbell to inspect the settlements of the Society. He visited Stellenbosch and Genadendal. In Caledon he enjoyed the hospitality of Michiel Vos (the Cape Silversmith turned Church minister). Later he went on to Bethelsdorp where he met Mr Read (Van der Kemp's successor) and together they travelled to Grahamstown and Graaff-Reinet. He met Burchell en route to the Orange River and the Northern Cape (Pella). Writing about Northern Namaqualand, he describes staying with the elderly Mrs Vandervesthuis in the Kamma mountains. The lady said she had given Le Vaillant 'a good drubbing with a sambuck for speaking improperly of her daughters' when Le Vaillant had visited the area some years before. Appendix VII has the Lord's Prayer in both Hottentot languages. Appendix X has a list of missionaries in South Africa.In Appendix XIII and XIV Campbell sharply criticises Lichtenstein's and Maria Graham's books in which they describe the situation in South Africa in 1812.