My Reminiscencs of East Africa (first edition; 1920)

Lettow-Vorbeck, General von . . .

Description:

. . . "with portrait [frontispiece], 22 maps and sketch-maps and 13 drawings by General von Lettow-Vorbeck's [unnamed] adjutant [who was Lieutenant Walter von Ruckteschell]"

This is a good copy of the seminal work on the German side of the East Africa campaign in the first world war. Despite the author's reservations in his preface - "my own records have for the most part been lost, and I had not the leisure to prepare a detailed description of the campaign in East Africa in addition to my other duties" - he is able to assert that " . . . even without immediate payment [the largely indigenous] force . . . faithfully followed its German leaders throughout the whole of the prolonged war against a more than hundredfold superiority."

The book is divided into two parts - "Events previous to the arrival of the South Africans" and "The concentric attack by superior forces (from the arrival of the South African troops to the loss of the colony)".

xvi + 336 pp of text and index, including maps in the text + frontispiece and 14 pp of inserted plates.

The original blue cloth-boards, gilt to the spine and blind double-ruled to the front, are chipped, rubbed and stained, with two small holes at the front of the spine. The endpapers are sunned and stained. The fly-leaf has been torn out. The rest of the book is complete, with no owner's or other marks, and is undiscoloured save for an unobtrusive stain on the lower book-edge.

Details:

  • Publisher: Hurst and Blackett
  • Publisher Place: London
  • Date of Publication: [1920]
  • Edition: First
  • Binding Condition: Fair to Good
  • Overall Condition: Good +
  • Size: 235 x 165
  • Lot No: 179
  • Hammer Price: $100
  • Bids: 1
  • Visits: 70
  • Estimate: $400
  • Reserve: $100

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Seller Details:

  • Name: Fontein Books
  • Address: 27 Voortrekker Street, Philippolis 9970
  • Contact Person: Richard Proctor-Sims
  • Country of Origin: South Africa
  • Email: fontein@wol.co.za
  • Website:
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Internet bank transfer or Visa or Mastercard
  • Trade Association: AA Approved
  • Additional Information: Fontein Books has for several years participated in Antiquarian Auctions and its predecessor. It specialises in historical and contemporary books on the Free State and Northern Karoo, and is also an active buyer and seller on commission in these and other fields. Fontein's owner, Richard Proctor-Sims, was an editor, writer and small publisher until 2005, when he moved from Johannesburg to Philippolis, the first settlement (1822) north of the Gariep or Orange River, where he opened his first physical bookshop (to which buyers and sellers are welcome), with reasonable holdings in Africana, both Anglo-Boer wars, biography, history, military history, natural history and travel. He regularly visits Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and offers to deliver heavy or valuable books or sets to these cities on such visits. Richard Proctor-Sims retains the copyright of Fontein's Antiquarian Auction descriptions and these may not be reproduced without permission and acknowledgment.