THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902

7 volumes (6 volumes + the bibliography and index volume), colour folding map in pocket at the front of volume 1, 5 other folding maps in pockets, 70 maps - mostly folding, many photogravure and other portraits, original red cloth, titled gilt on the backs and decorated with medallions, top edges gilt, other edges uncut, some light foxing, a very good set.

An unusual set contained in 'Book Post' boxes three of which still bear the label of Davis & Sons, Longmarket Street, Maritzburg, Natal, Lithographers, Illuminators, Booksellers, Stationers. Only volume II is in a new box. Volumes VI & VII (Index) are together in one box and VII is in the dust jacket. Having been kept in the boxes the red cloth of each volume is in bright and unfaded condition the boxes, however,  are worn from age and handling.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-30401?rskey=4UOPEO&result=1

'Amery, Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett (1873–1955), politician and journalist. He joined the staff of The Times in 1899, and in covering the build-up to the South African War of 1899–1902 was the only correspondent to visit the Boer forces. After narrowly escaping capture with Winston Churchill, he was ordered away from the front to organize the paper's war correspondents. He remained a member of the editorial staff of The Times for the next ten years, having been called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1902.

'In South Africa, Amery had come to regard Alfred Milner with filial devotion. He collaborated with the young men of Milner's staff (the ‘kindergarten’) on an occasional basis and was spotted by Milner as a promising unofficial agent for empire in London to research the imperial economy and prepare material for the imperial conferences [see also Milner's Kindergarten]. Amery's commitment to the empire as 'the final object of patriotic emotion and action' (Amery, Political Life, 1.253) assumed the dimensions of a faith, staunchly defended for more than sixty years, and sustained by a fine mind and (sometimes obdurate) political courage. All Souls, The Times, and the patronage of Milner and Joseph Chamberlain gave him contacts and unusual influence, magnified by his appetite and capacity for work.

'Over nine years Amery planned, edited, and largely wrote The Times History of the War in South Africa (7 vols., 1900–1909), which demonstrated the need for reform of the army and the War Office. After extensive discussions with the army chiefs, he advocated its reorganization in The Problem of the Army (1903) and became a forthright lobbyist for compulsory military training and national service. Under the pseudonym Tariff Reformer in The Times he attacked free trade, and he followed this with The Fundamental Fallacies of Free Trade (1906), which he described as a theoretical blast of economic heresy, including the proposition that the total volume of British trade mattered less than the function of trade in balancing the country's deficiency in raw materials and foodstuffs by the export of its surplus manufacturing, shipping, and financial skill. This analysis underlay Amery's lifelong drive for partnership with the empire's primary producers.'

'The various appendices and the index which make up volume 7 are the work of Mr. G.P. Tallboy, who has acted as secretary to the History for the last seven years,' Author's preface. The four appendices are, I. Chronological table of events, 1899 - 1909. II. Regimental Casualties, with period of service of each regiment and engagement at which present. III. Official table of casualties, with summary. IV. List of medals and clasps. V. Bibliography. This lists the approximately 2250 books published on the war up to 1909.'