Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #114 begins on 11 Apr 2024

Sharpe ( Sir Alfred)

THE BACKBONE OF AFRICA

A record of travel during the Great War, with some suggestions for administrative reform

Published: H.F. & G. Witherby, London, 1921

Edition: First Edition

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With photographs and maps.

First edition. 282 pages, frontispiece bound next to the half title page, 3 maps, 22 full page black and white plates, light foxing in the text, uncut edges, blue cloth with gilt vignette of Africa on the upper cover, the same vignette and titled gilt on the spine, neatly rebacked - preserving the original back strip, a good copy.

Sir Alfred Sharpe, (born May 19, 1853, Lancaster, Lancashire, Eng.—died Dec. 10, 1935, London), English adventurer and colonial administrator who helped establish the British Nyasaland Protectorate (now MalaĆ”i) and obtain portions of central East Africa (now in Zambia) for the British Empire.

Sharpe went to the Shire Highlands, south of Lake Nyasa, in 1887 to hunt elephant and trade in ivory but immediately became involved in a war with Arab slave traders. When Nyasaland was made a British protectorate in 1889, Sharpe set out to enlist African allegiance to British colonization. He succeeded to the west, in all of what is now Zambia, and almost succeeded in Katanga, now in Congo (Kinshasa). During this period (1889–95) Sharpe explored and mapped Lake Mweru (in Zambia), the northern parts of Zambia, and Katanga. He was appointed vice consul of Nyasaland Protectorate in 1891 and governor in 1897. He retired from the colonial service in 1910. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Sharpe

Czech (K.) An Annotated Bibliography of African Big Game Hunting Books 1785 -1999 page 254: A former governeor of Nyasaland, Sharpe recounts three journeys through central and eastern Afrcia. Of big game interest is a long chapter on hunting elephants in the upper Welle district of the Congo, and near Lake Albert using a.333 Jeffery for most of his sport. There are affitonal mentions of hunting rhino, hippo and various antelopes.

  • Overall Condition: A Good Copy
  • Size: 8vo (230 x150mm)
  • Sold By: Clarke's Africana & Rare Books
  • Contact Person: Paul Mills
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 021 794 0600
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Visa & Mastercard via PayGate secure links and Bank transfers.
  • Trade Associations: ABA - ILAB, SABDA


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