Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #114 begins on 11 Apr 2024

Charles John Andersson

THE OKAVANGO RIVER (first British edition)

A Narrative of Travel, Exploration and Adventure. With numerous illustrations.

Published: Hurst and Blackett, London, 1861

Edition: First Edition

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First British edition: 364 pages, wood engraved frontispiece of an African Elephant, an engraved title page vignette - a portrait of the author, and a title-page with 1861 on it, 15 plates, rebound in full black leather with gilt decorations, titled gilt on the red spine labels with decorative gilt. 15-page publisher's catalog of advertisements at the end of the volume. Some tape repairs present in a few places in this volume.

Andersson had been unable to follow the book through the press and was disappointed in the lack of editorial control in the final product. An American edition was issued in the same year but this title was not reprinted in London and remains perhaps the scarcest of Andersson's books.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography volume 1, page 42: A description of a hunting expedition through Namaqualand and Damaraland. Andersson intended to explore these countries right up to the Cunene or Nourse River, but the difficulties of the expedition, though encountered with indomitable courage, proved to be insuperable, and he had to turn back. He obtained, however, much valuable information, and his success as a hunter and collector was unique in this part of the continent. The coast-line of South-West Africa is carefully described, and there is an interesting account of the once-famed guano island, Ichaboe.

Wallis (J.P.R.) Fortune My Foe (1936), pages 256-258. 'From a variety of causes it was less effective than his Lake Ngami. In the first place, his instinctive reticence shrank from obtruding his personal sufferings and disappointments upon his reader. It was a manly modesty in him, but did his narrative less than justice. So it is that while the first chapters are as attractive as anything in Lake Ngami, and perhaps fine in their record of achievement and maturer in spirit, the later portions too readily decline into transcripts from the journals and show a falling off in freshness and gusto.'

  • Sold By: Springbok Books
  • Contact Person: Wade Burgess
  • Country: United States
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 1-505-382-2875
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  • Trade Associations: AA Approved


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