Africa

Richer than All His Tribe – Nicholas Monsarrat – First Edition 1968

A fine copy of the first edition published by Cassell, London in 1968. Octavo, 369 pages, map of The Island of Pharamaul. A really fresh copy.

Despite fame from “the Cruel Sea” it is widely accepted that amongst his large body of work The Tribe That Lost its Head (published 1956) and this later development of the themes therein Richer Than All His Tribe were his best works.

Monsarrat had spent some time in South Africa as a diplomat and he draws on his experience to write about the obscure colonial island of Pharamual set in the South Atlantic some 500 miles from the South West Coast of Africa. It all starts with Independence Day …

Monsarrat back at Pharamaul.

$30.00

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Travels Researches and Missionary Labors During Eighteen Years’ Residence in Eastern Africa – Together with Journeys to Jagga, Usambara, Ukambani, Shoa, Abessinia and Khartum; and a Coasting Voyage from Mombaz to Cape Delgado. – J.L. Krapf – 1860

With and appendix by noted geographer and cartographer Ernest George Ravenstein (1834-1913) … the snow-capped mountains of Eastern Africa; the sources of the Nile; the languages and literature of Abessinia and Eastern Africa, etc and a concise account of geographical researches in Eastern Africa up to the discovery of the Uyenyesi by Dr Livingstone, in September last.

First US edition published by Ticknor Fields, Boston 1860. Octavo, xl, 484 pages with folding map and extensive bibliography of the literature and languages of Eastern Africa. bound expertly in full morocco.

Johann Ludwig Krapf (1810-1881) a German born missionary who carried out much fundamental exploration in East Africa often with Johannes Rebmann. They were the first Europeans to see Mount Kenya and the snow there and on Mt Kilimanjaro. He first arrived in Ethiopia in 1836 and became heavily involved in linguistics including some languages no longer spoken. Later in Kenya he wrote the first dictionary and grammar of the Swahili language.

So important were the travels around the mountains and the reporting of the snow clad peaks and the prospects for the source of the Nile that Krapf’s record spurred the London Royal Geographical Society to fund the Burke and Speake expedition in an attempt to settle matters once and for all.

Krapf a cornerstone account that inspired the Burke Speake expedition to confirm the source of the Nile.

$280.00

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True at First Light – Ernest Hemingway (Introduced by Patrick Hemingway) – First Edition

Regarded by the London Times as “the most important book to appear in 1999″

A posthumously published work. Released in 1999 to coincide with the 100 year anniversary of Hemingway’s birth.

Relates to the 1953-54 safari to East Africa with his fourth wife. Part fiction part fact. Much controversy regarding its release. One school believing that Patrick’s indulgence in editing this unfinished work partly commercially driven. Hemingway lovers on the other hand happy to get some more words from the great man.

Published by Heinemann, 319 pages. A fine copy in near new condition.

Hemingway in Africa with some reality and some fantasy.

$35.00

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The Lake Regions of Africa – John Giddie – 1883

Published by Nelson, Edinburgh in 1883 described as a record of modern discovery. So a book that build on the first hand account of all of the great African explorers to date.

Octavo, 275 pages, with 32 illustrations, some light foxing, mark to rear cover otherwise a pretty good copy, with the delightful black and gilt illustrated front board and spine.

The contents separated into three principal sections covering exploration of the Nile, Congo and Zambesi rivers. Nicely done.

Nice book provides timeframe and perspective to 19thC African exploration.

$75.00

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The Lure of Unknown Lands – North Pole and Equator – Major F.G. Jackson – First Edition 1935

A first edition published by G. Bell, London in 1935. Large octavo, 342 pages, 44 illustrations from period photographs and three maps … North Russia; Franz Joseph Land and Central Africa. No dust jacket but otherwise a very good copy.

The maps are large folding and in super condition … the Franz Joseph map is a classic of exploration.

Frederick Jackson (1860-1938) probably the most unsung exploration hero of all time … a little like Hubert Wilkins. Prior to this late life summary as achievements he produced tow great classics … The Great Frozen Land [See Our Copy] and A Thousand Days in the Arctic (Both Voyager Favourites). Famously met Nansen in the Arctic frozen wastes with the Stanley /Livingston like greeting “You are Nansen – aren’t you?” .. the later having been lost for over a winter and had no clue where he actually was … saved by Jackson. The photograph of the meeting was reconstructed after Nansen had a chance to tidy up!

Despite the title the book starts in Western Queensland and the lead up to that is most interesting. Soon we are at Waigate Island, quite a contrast and the journey from Khabarova to to Archangel. Then the big event .. the Jackson – Harmsworth Polar Expedition … Franz Josef Land … winter, new discoveries and dangers and that extraordinary meeting. Further North and eventually a third winter. After all of this cold weather and excursion to war Jackson explores Central Africa and Liberia. What a life …

Jackson in the cold and the hot – super account

$90.00

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WWI Maritime and Travel Original Annotated Photograph Album – Over 180 Images

A most interesting collection spanning the years of WWI and shortly afterwards. Taken and compiled by a marine officer, over 180 original photographs, taken with some expertise, nicely presented in its original Morocco bound photograph album. The photographer has presented each photograph framing it within white borders and added very neatly in white a useful description.

The condition of the photographs is good overall, a few are faded or marked in some way from the passage of time, others are crisp and clean. A few have been removed or fallen out and few are loose inside …we have not studied where they could go … the album is robust and showing minor age wear, the whole package is very presentable and more or less complete. We wish we knew the photographer … he was clearly officer material on the Orontes and had a wife and child … we have included his image as the “thumbnail” … does anyone know who he was …?

The album can be split into two distinct periods. The first, before January 1919 being mainly onboard the HMT Orontes a vessel that plied the England – Australia route for the Orient line. With the outbreak of WWI, it became a troop carrier. The photographer appears to have also served on SS Derbyshire in a similar capacity. During this phase he took images of a number of famous vessels used in the war effort and numerous images of views, landmarks, architecture, and the people at various ports of call.

The second element post January 1919 is devoted to a circumnavigation on SS Cufic which head across the Atlantic to Nova Scotia, down to the Panama Canal and across the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia, Durban, Cape Town, and Home.

Photographs of vessels include … RMS Mauretania; Kaiseren Auguste Victoria [surrendered in 1919 and used to bring American troops home]; HMS Renown [in New York Harbour with the Prince of Wales on board]; HMS Carpathia [of Titanic rescue fame and later torpedoed and sunk]; RMS Pannonia; SS Explorer; SS Demosthenes [used to carry Australian troops]; HMS Sydney [in Colombo Harbour just after the sinking of the German Cruiser Emden]; SS Derbyshire [Colombo – Rangoon Line]; HMT Osterley; SS Cufic and HMT Orontes.

Examples of the touring images include …

The Flatiron (previously Fuller) skyscraper – New York
Washington Arch – New York
Statue of Liberty – New York
Top of Woolworth Tower – New York
5th Avenue – New York
A Glimpse of Wall Street – New York
Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge – New York
Boston views
The Citadel Quebec
Main Street Gibraltar
A “Blimp” convoying
A Glimpse of the US army
Panama Canal scenes
On route to Calcutta
Homeward bound in the Bay of Biscay
Cinnamon Gardens Colombo
Cape St Vincent – Portugal [Incorrectly described Spanish]
Hindu Temple South India
Colombo Harbour
Ox waggon Rangoon Burma
On the Temple steps – India
Native of South India
Children of North India
Hindu dockworker
The Pagoda Calcutta
Burmese Shrine to the God Dagan
The Schegadon Pagodas Rangoon
The lake Rangoon
A Burmese girl off to the well
Anzac Day 1918 some fancy costumes
Sierra Leone West Africa
Leaving Table Bay HMS Britannia escorting
South African troops on board – the first bugle call – “Cookhouse!”
Scene in Native Quarter Durban
Australian sheep Hamilton Victoria
Sydney Zoo
Wellington New Zealand
Tahiti South Sea Islands
Main Street Papeete
Tahitian Friends
Papeete from Crows Nest
A Harbour view Tahiti
A big dam Panama Canal
Electric Mule Panama Canal
Leaving Liverpool Jan 18, 1919 – “Bon Voyage” [a self portrait]
The first port Louisbourg – Cape Breton Island [Nova Scotia]
Snow scene St John Nova Scotia
Lock gates and numerous others – Panama Canal
“Star of Holland” mid -Pacific [a US Tall Ship]
New Zealand including memorial to Robert Scott
Melbourne – picking up the Pilot
Quarantine procedures in Melbourne
A number in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane … and the way home via South Africa

Superb, interesting unique photographic record. Now over 100 years old.

$590.00

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Richer than All His Tribe – Nicholas Monsarrat – First Edition 1968

Travels Researches and Missionary Labors During Eighteen Years’ Residence in Eastern Africa – Together with Journeys to Jagga, Usambara, Ukambani, Shoa, Abessinia and Khartum; and a Coasting Voyage from Mombaz to Cape Delgado. – J.L. Krapf – 1860

True at First Light – Ernest Hemingway (Introduced by Patrick Hemingway) – First Edition

The Lake Regions of Africa – John Giddie – 1883

The Lure of Unknown Lands – North Pole and Equator – Major F.G. Jackson – First Edition 1935

WWI Maritime and Travel Original Annotated Photograph Album – Over 180 Images

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