SPEECHES, LETTERS, AND SELECTIONS
FROM IMPORTANT PAPERS OF
THE LATE
JOHN MITFORD BOWKER,

SOME YEARS RESIDENT AND DIPLOMATIC AGENT
WITH CERTAIN KAFIR AND FINGO TRIBES.

GODLONTON AND RICHARDS: GRAHAMSTOWN
1864

First edition.
A rare and collectable item of Africana.
The book comes with additional documentation from Bowker's great granddaughter which states that only 500 copies were printed and most were destroyed by fire when in storage. Then in 1993 a small box was discovered in an abandoned building which contained a small number of books packed in 1864 by the publishers. This is one of those copies, with the pages still unopened.

There is a short biographical sketch of Mr. Bowker, who died in the midst of the Kaffir War of 1847. Chapter I. contains an epitome of Frontier History, and Chapter II. private correspondence with Sir B. D'Urban, and the other chapters record speeches and letters to officials and private friends respecting the state of the Eastern Province from 1837-1847. It is stated that the volume will be found to contain “a picture by an eye-witness, an actor and a sufferer, of the life of a British Colonial subject in the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope.” (Mendelssohn, South African Bibliography).

22 x 13 cm. ix + 275 pp.

Insect damage from the rear cover through to page 239, does not damage the text (see photos). Cover has some damp stains and wear on the spine, corners lightly bumped. Overall clean and tidy apart from the insect damage.