The Story of Nations: South Africa: (the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, South African Republic, Rhodesia and All Other Territories South of the Zambesi)

T. Fisher Unwin, 1900, fifth edition, seventh impression, hardcover, illustrated, index, fold out map, 452 pages, 13.5 cms x 20 cms x 4 cms, condition: very good.

The Story of the Nations Library is a historical book series started by the British publisher Thomas Fisher Unwin in 1885. South Africa is number 38 in the series and first published in 1894.

George McCall Theal (1837  1919), was the most prolific and influential South African historian, archivist and genealogist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Theals knowledge of the Bantu was so extensive that in 1877 he was requested by Sir Bartle Frere, High Commissioner for South Africa, to persuade some belligerent Bantu chiefs to moderate their attitude. Theal's success in this role led to his being offered a post in the Treasury. He accepted this position, aware that he would then have access to the State archives which were housed in the Surveyor-General's office.