The Boer War Diary of Sol T.Plaatje

For decades Sol Plaatje's remarkable diary lay buried under a rubbish heap of old papers and documents in a Barolong village near Mafeking. When anthropologist John Comaroff told the villagers he was interested in written records, Plaatje's grandson rooted out an old scrapbook. At the back of this, miraculously preserved from the corrosions of dust and time, was Sol Plaatje's Boer War diary. Even passages faintly written in pencil under heavy siege conditions were still legible. Examining the diary seventy years after the date of the first entry, Mr Comaroff immediately realised that what had been handed to him was a historical document of rare value. The Siege of Mafeking was presented in an entirely new way: through the eyes of one of the many Africans who lived through grim months in the Boer-besieged town. During the Siege, Plaatje worked as an interpreter to the Mafeking court. 165pp.

Condition: black cloth boards in very good condition, flap foxing to end-papers, and spotting to page edges. Dust-jacket: creased top edge, not price-clipped, a few nicks and chips to edges, otherwise very good.