Short Studies on Great Subjects [including leaves from his South African journal] (3 vols; 1878)

Froude, James Anthony

Description:

This set is full bound in brown calf with red and black title panels and gilt lettering and tooling to the spine, blind design and gilt rules to the faces and, on the front cover, the gilt-embossed coat of arms of Cheltenham College (1841). Ten of the 12 corners and the spine-cover hinges are rubbed, there is a 2.5 cm tear at the top of the spine of Vol I and a very small tear at the top of the spine of Vol III. The bindings are firm and flexible. The endpapers and all three page edges are marbled. A few early and late leaves are foxed. The three volumes have a combined total of 1834 pp.

On the front paste-down of Vol I is an 1879 prize label (see image). The set comes from the family of H V Bailey, the Class 1C (Military and Civil Department) recipient of the English prize for that year.

Vol III is of particular interest as it includes the first publication of this historian author's 82-pp essay "Leaves from a South African Journal", with extracts from his diary for 23 August to 26 December 1874, the period of the first of the author's two visits to South Africa, starting with his departure from Dartmouth in the Walmer Castle. Among others, he spoke to a Natal Judge and Saul Solomon about the so-called Langabelele case, which appeared to have been a miscarriage of justice, but which led to the suggestion that the Natal Government, conscious of the rightness of its case, should consider relinquishing the British connection and join the Free State. Froude, who was then about sixty, travelled a further 1500 miles to the Orange Free State and the South African Republic, both of whose presidents he saw several times, and to the Diamond Fields, where he wrote very critically about British policy.

 

Details:

  • Publisher: Longmans Green
  • Publisher Place: London
  • Date of Publication: 1878
  • Edition: New Edition
  • Binding Condition: Very Good
  • Overall Condition: Very Good
  • Size: 175 x 125 x 110 (shelf space)
  • Lot No: 228
  • Hammer Price: $95
  • Bids: 3
  • Visits: 115
  • Estimate: $200
  • Reserve: $75

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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
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  • 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.