Condition: Good. DJ is good apart from some handling marks. Book is clean and tight with some light foxing on end pages.
Format: Hardcover with DJ
Published: 1969 (Books of Africa)
Pages: 427
ISBN: THEODORE and Mabel Bent were ardent travellers in the best Victorian tradition and in addition to the trip through Rhodesia, described in this volume, they visited remote parts of Europe, the Greek Islands and Asia Minor, Abyssinia - then almost unknown to Europeans - and also went seven times to Arabia. Bent died in London in May, 1897, shortly after returning from his final journey in Arabia.
Many of their journeys were described in books written by Theodore Bent and illustrated with engravings made from Mrs. Bents photographs and watercolour sketches. The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland is the best known of his books, having run through three editions of which the third (1895) is reprinted here. This edition has been chosen because of the valuable additional material contained in its preface.
The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland has had a considerable effect on historical thinking in Rhodesia but Bents conclusions were questioned soon after publication, as well as by other visiting archaeologists - David Randall-Maciver in 1905 and Miss Gertrude Caton-Thompson in 1929. Radiocarbon tests have shown that Bents Phoenician hypothesis is untenable but this does not detract from the value of his observations which are still very useful.
This book is of particular interest to Books of Rhodesia as the frontispiece has been adopted as the publishers colophon: the wood-en dish is a divining bowl and, having been discovered in the nineties, was bought by Mr. Rhodes and is now at Groote Schuur House. As the third edition was in octavo, it has been necessary to enlarge the original print slightly to fit the standard format of Books of Rhodesia, consequently any imperfections in the original type are now more obvious.
