WANDERINGS AND ADVENTURES IN THE INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AFRICA

Author and Title: Steedman (Andrew) WANDERINGS AND ADVENTURES IN THE INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (Two-Volume Limited Edition Set)

Collation: Limited edition: two volumes, octavo (8vo), generously illustrated with woodcuts, full-page lithographs of South African fauna, and panoramic geographical profiles. Original publisher's premium bottle green library cloth bindings with brilliant gilt spine lettering, in the original graphic dust jackets. A good to very good set. Both volumes retain exceptionally tight, square, and neat cloth bindings with excellent hinge strength; minimal non-structural handling wear is present along the edges, and the decorative gilt remains bright. The pages are clean, crisp, and tightly bound, entirely free of signatures, modern underlinings, corner creasing, or severe foxing. The dust jackets are very good, remaining fully intact with only slight storage markings and minor peripheral edge wear; both are protected within premium archival-grade removable plastic sleeves.

Both volumes are numbered as no. 110 of a limited run of 750 copies.

Notes: Originally published in London by Longmans in 1835, these facsimile reproductions form Volumes XVIII (1966) and XXVII (1974) of C. Struik's iconic Africana Collectanea Series.

 

The work details a multi-year journey spanning over ten thousand miles through the South African frontier during the tumultuous 1820s and 1830s. As an observant naturalist and merchant-adventurer who resided at the Cape for a decade, Steedman provides invaluable eyewitness accounts of the early Cape Colony, the Griqua territories, regional wildlife, and early encounters with the Xhosa and Zulu kingdoms. Upon his return to London, his massive private collections of preserved animal specimens formed the basis of the famous African Glen exhibition in the Egyptian Hall.

Steedman's contributions to early Victorian natural science are well documented, and contemporary accounts of his collections can be explored through historical archives such as the British Library.

A scarce, matched-number set.

Size: 8vo (218 x 140 mm)
Imprint: Cape Town, C. Struik, 1966 & 1974