Andrew Geddes Bain (1797 - 1864) was a South African geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer.
In this collection there are two manuscripts, both written at Bain's Kloof, near Wellington, and on Cape government embossed stationary.
1. The first being"On Geology of South Africa" presumably dictated to a secretary. (This manuscript is in a secretarial hand). There are corrections made to this manuscript. It is suggestible that this is the primary manuscript used for the famous treatise: Dated 20 Nov. 1851. The official version was published a year later by the Geographical Society.
2. The second is a 2-page manuscript letter in the hand of Bain addressed to the secretary of the Geological Society of London. Dated 22 January 1852. Bain mentions the fossil he found, Pareiasaurus Serridens, otherwise known as the "Blinkwater Monster". In the letter Bain is offering his fossil collection to the society. As a result of this donation, Bain received peer acclaim and went on to produce the first scientific geological maps of South Africa.
Condition: This book / manuscript is now housed in a new blue solander box with a title affixed to the front. 64 pages. Good quality paper, each with a watermark. The first section of On Geology consists of 43 pages. Around 23 more remnants of pages that were torn out, possible letters addressed and sent to other societies or recipients. No outside covers on these manuscripts.
A note of interest: Work on Bain's Kloof started on 16 February 1849, and the pass was formally opened on 14 September 1853, four and a half years later. It was on this occasion that Bain, in replying to a speech of praise when it was formally announced that the pass was to bear his name...... Bain wrote the two manuscripts here above, dated 1851 and 1852, signing then already as at Bain's Kloof ....... So at least two years before completion, he already decided the pass would bear his name, being his magnum opus of the 8 passes constructed by him.
- Size: 20 x 32 cm
