A Journey to the South African Gold Fields by Bottomley, George - 1870

Natal: Natal Printing Company "Herald" Office, Durban, 1870. First edition. With two plates, original photographs, mounted, with printed captions. [ii], 77, [15, ads] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Later half calf over marbled boards, original wrappers bound in. With the discreet blindstamp of "George Russell Port Natal General Agent" to upper wrapper. Closed tear in one ad leaf, paper flaws to margins of last two ad leaves. Front flyleaf with archival tissue repair at gutter. Bookplate. Very good. Custom morocco backed clamshell box. First edition. With two plates, original photographs, mounted, with printed captions. [ii], 77, [15, ads] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. RARE. "Highly interesting and rare pamphlet, containing an account of an expedition to the Tati (Tatin) Goldfields which had lately been discovered by Carl Mauch, and to which a number of parties of gold miners were flocking from different parts of South Africa and Australia" (Mendelssohn). Bottomley travelled via Maritzburg, Harrismith, Potchefstroom and Rustenburg to the valley of the Limpopo and Matabeleland. It was a difficult journey and several of the men suffered illness and died along the way. The party were forced to hunt for provisions and defend themselves. They had several run ins with lions as well as hunting rhinoceros, koodoo (kudu), quagga, elephant, and a chase after ostrich. Of additional interest are the two original photographs not mentioned by Mendelssohn. The first being "The Government Buildings, Durban, Natal." The other: "Burial Place of I. Baker, W. Davis, I. Guthrie and B.S. Hobson, Ingati, Matabele Country." From the library of Edward C. Tabler (1916-1977), engineer with Union Carbide, and author of many books on the history of South Africa and big game hunting. Tabler's papers are at Yale. There are no copies listed on OCLC. COPAC locates just a single copy at the Bodleian which is a photocopy. There is no copy in the South African National Library; Mendelssohn's own collection is held at the South African Parliamentary Library but the library holds no copy of this title. Mendelssohn, vol. 1, p 160. Provenance: Edward C. Tabler (his bookplate, purchase note: Maskew Miller, C. Town, June 20, 1957, 4 gns.)