Hard Cover with DJ. C.Struik Cape Town 1966. 158 pages
Minor foxing and yellowing and a couple of smaal tears to edge of DJ but generally in pretty good condition for its age with no inscriptions. ( see pics below). Please feel free to ask questions. Local postage will be R25 inc insurance.
Please look at my other book listings as I am happy to combine postage should you wish to purchase more than one item.
10% discount will be given for orders of 5 or more books packaged and posted together.
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" The author collected various papers ( letters and diaries) of the Essex/Rabone family into an account of pioneer life more than a century ago. Alfred Essex, editor, printer, proprietor and publisher of the Graaff Reinet Herald who came to South Africa in 1843, invites his father and sisters to leave depression-ridden London and join him in this land of boundless opportunity.
In one of his letters he wrote: I know that I cannot even try to give you a correct idea of the state of things here without running the risk of making it appear that silver is dross and gold scarce worth the trouble of picking up in this country.....
Nor are his letters confined to family matters, for his comments on the curren Native War, and his fulminations against the Government and philanthropists of the day, might well have been written by one of the Voortrekkers. His brother-in-law and sister, William and Harriet Rabone, set sail in the Cuba - a ship little larger than a modern tug. After a fast trip of sixty-two days, they are wrecked four miles from Port Elizabeth, recued by a passing East Indiaman, and taken to St Helena.
William's diary of the voyage and of their varied experiences before they finally land in Algoa Bay makes interesting and exciting reading. The narrative is continued in the letters written by Harriet to a friend in London. Full of Victorian cham and flavour, these letters give a vivid description of life in a small country town, of its humour and pathos, and of the constant struggle to provide for the needs of a growing family.
Numerous contemporary drawings and photographs enhamce the value of the work."
