MATABELE LAND AND THE VICTORIA FALLS

Author and Title: Oates (Frank) MATABELELAND AND THE VICTORIA FALLS: From the Letters and Journals of the Late Frank Oates, FRGS

Collation: Limited edition: 383 pages, edited by C.G. Oates, lavishly illustrated with full-colour chromolithograph views, natural history plates (ornithological, entomological, botanical), text illustrations, and multi-folding geographic maps. Original publisher's premium full cloth hardcover featuring decorative motifs and lettering to the front board and spine, in the original dust jacket. A very good plus copy. The boards are straight, square, and robust, with bright, unfaded cover motifs and sharp lettering; negligible handling friction is present at the extreme spine tips and corners. The text block is tight and soundly bound; internal pages, colour plates, and folding maps are exceptionally crisp, clean, and entirely free from inscriptions, marginalia, or page creasing. The dust jacket is good to very good, showing age-related shelf wear along the edges, including minor hairline creasing and small chips typical for this paper stock, now stabilized within a fresh archival-grade removable plastic protective sleeve.

 

This is no. 642 of a limited edition of 1,500 copies.

Notes: Originally published in 1881, this Heritage Series facsimile reprint (Volume III) serves as an invaluable natural history record and journal of Victorian exploration in Central Africa. In December 1874, British explorer Frank Oates became one of the few early Europeans to successfully reach Victoria Falls, though he tragically succumbed to malaria on his return journey at the age of 34. The volume chronicles his final trek through the Zambezi Valley and preserves his interactions with King Lobengula of the Ndebele and the hunter Frederick Selous.

 

Highly prized for its extensive scientific appendices, the book features meticulous early reports on ethnographic, herpetological, and ornithological specimens, many of which were later integrated into the Natural History Museum archives.

Frank Oates (1840–1875) was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society whose enduring field legacy was carefully curated and published posthumously by his brother, Charles George Oates.

Size: 8vo (225 x 145 mm)
Imprint: Salisbury, The Pioneer Head, 1971