Africa

The Downfall of Prempeh [The West African Ashanti Expedition] -Baden-Powell 1896

A very special book by the Major Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (later Lord Lieutenant General) founder of the Boy Scouts (the first Chief Scout).

First edition published by Methuen, London in 1896. Octavo, 199 pages, nicely illustrated and with a map. Red cloth covered boards, gilt titles to spine, a little spine fading, otherwise a clean and impressive copy.

The capital of Ashanti land , Kumassi, sits 75 miles inland from Cape Coast Castle on the West African Gold Coast – now Ghana.

This is about a military expedition to effectively oust the leader Prempeh because he was totally mad and made his subjects follow his passion which was basically sacrificing people, lots of them, all of the time. They had special places for these rituals and even a massive cauldron style object over which heads were severed. He had a passion for killing virgins sometimes hundreds at a time … not nice man. A think we can agree this was one Colonial intervention that was justified.

Anyway, Baden-Powell writes so well and we learn a lot about the preparations for the forces sent in, how they were organised and the difficulties and calamities they came across. The ending was rather strange but we will leave that for the reader.

Ashanti of the Gold Coast – Baden-Powell Expedition

$180.00

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African Silences – Peter Matthiessen

A super narrative that combines a West African wildlife trip of 1978 {Gambia, Ivory Coast etc} with a Forest Elephant Survey in the broader Congo Basin {Gabon, Congo, Zaire, Kenya} in 1980.

Published by Random House, New York in 1991. Octavo, 225 pages, end paper maps of the travels. Very good condition, good dust jacket over an elaborate binding with quarter green cloth and parchment like paper with delightful embossed pygmy elephant motif.

The author is a great writer {author of the Snow Leopard etc} but as usual he forgot to take his camera. This is a disappointment considering his subject matter and the search for the elusive pygmy elephant.

The second adventure dominates the book and they both contain good detail of the goings on surrounding the trip – the scariest light aircraft experiences imaginable. The Forest Elephant survey was truly important because at that time the poachers had moved into the jungle and were taking large numbers of elephant down for the ivory – the rate was predicted to be fatal to the elephant without a proper scientific census on number – still not sure.

Matthiessen in Africa searching for the pygmy elephants – good content -

$30.00

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Green Hills of Africa – Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway’s Green Hills was first published in 1936. This is a 1962 edition of the desirable Jonathan Cape format.

Octavo, 284 pages with the super decorative illustrations by Edward Shenton. Green cloth covered boards with “game’ gilt design to front. Top edge stained green as required of this edition. A few dust jacket light chips and age otherwise a very copy of a hard to find item.

A piece of non-fiction regarding Hemingway’s safari to Africa in December 1933 with his wife Pauline. First criticised by reviewers and then lauded as the best African safari book ever written … Hemingway never forgave them as he thought they had killed the book.

Set in Tanzania and up the Great Rift Valley. Hemingway describes the lure of the hunt, the landscape and beauty of the wilderness like never before. Intermingled with conversations and views on writers and his writing. It is in this book that he set Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain as the greatest piece of American literature … but not without qualification.

Carries a special appreciation for “J P” i.e. Jackson Philip who was Philip Hope Percival who was his guide. Percival was the inspiration behind the character Robert Wilson in his later short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

Green Hills of Africa – true Hemingway

$70.00

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Jardine Parrot – By Fawcett for Greene – 1884

Original wood cut hand finished engraving of the Jardine’s Parrot from “Parrots in Captivity”, published in London 1884.

This striking parrot was found and taken back to Scotland by the son of the famous naturalist, illustrator Sir William Jardine. The father categorised it hence it became named after his son … or after him as well really.

Greene’s delightful work comprising wood-engraved plates printed by Benjamin Fawcett after drawings by A.F. Lydon. The prints are hand finished with delicate highlighting in gum arabic to accentuate the bright colouring.

Benjamin Fawcett was one of the great colour printers of the 19th century. He pioneered a system of wood block engraving from multiple blocks that resulted in vivid finely coloured works. Fawcett had an association of some 50 years with Francis Orpen Morris to produce many beautiful works on birds. The engravings are the finest illustrations of parrots from the period.

Price unframed $120.00

$120.00

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Tribal Tattoos – Andy Sloss

An interesting little soft cover, only ever in this form. Published by Carlton, London in 2007.

Perfect bound 72 pages, illustrated throughout (naturally). Some introductory and concluding pages and in between .. Pacific; South America; North America; some Europe and Africa.

The variations, contrasts and similarities make this an interesting study even if you are not an advocate of the dye and needle.

Tattoos – a nice sounding and looking word, and steeped in cultural heritage worldwide

$20.00

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Chance or Design? – A Pioneer Looks Back [Papua New Guinea] – George Seymour Fort

George Fort (1851-1951) was prodding ninety when he wrote this reminiscence and it’s an interesting one particularly his time in New Guinea as an aid to Sir Peter Scratchley who carried out the annexation. Some history of events in that period that we have not seen elsewhere,

Published by Robert Hale, London in 1942. Octavo, 180 pages, good images from early New Guinea photographs. Original blue cloth covered boards, a very good copy.

As well as Australasia and New Guinea, Fort spent time in South Africa and Rhodesia. Chapters on Prospecting Experiences in Manicaland.

Fort kept the Fort in New Guinea and had some interesting things to say about it…

$40.00

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The Downfall of Prempeh [The West African Ashanti Expedition] -Baden-Powell 1896

African Silences – Peter Matthiessen

Green Hills of Africa – Ernest Hemingway

Jardine Parrot – By Fawcett for Greene – 1884

Tribal Tattoos – Andy Sloss

Chance or Design? – A Pioneer Looks Back [Papua New Guinea] – George Seymour Fort

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