Colenso Letters from Natal (Frances Colenso)

Frances Colenso, Colenso Letters from Natal. Arranged With Comments by Wyn Rees, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Natal. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter, 1958.

Hard cover, dustwrapper, 440 pages, some plates.

Dustwrapper a little worn. Very good condition.

From the Colenso MSS in the Campbell Library, Durban, Wyn Rees has prepared for publication some 300 letters written between 1865 and 1893 by Francis Colenso, wife of the well-known Bishop of Natal, Dr. John Colenso. After the Bishops excommunication in 1865, and the attempts at social, as well as ecclesiastical, ostracism which followed, this correspondence with the Lyell sisters of London became, for his wife, a means of personal intercourse for which few facilities existed within the colony. Those who are attracted to history by its portraits, whether of individuals or of communities, would enjoy these reflections on life in colonial Natal, and mid-Victorian England, written with a refreshing candour, for there was never any thought of publication.