Lost Among White Africans by David Ker - 1886: A Boy’s Adventure on the Upper Congo

With a black border design on the cover and spine, with the title in gold gilt on the spine and cover, there a hunter on the spine, a canoe with boys & native people, plus a hippopotamus in gold gilt on the cover. While the spine text and image are very readable the front and rear boards have cosmetic blemishes that make the cover illustration more difficult to see but text is still very readable (see photos). The teal green cloth is blemished but book has little wear to the top and bottom of the back strip and to the boards. All corners have slight wear and bumping. Spine is straight with tiny hints of cracking at the endpapers but hinges are strong. The overall text block is solid with all pages firmly attached but with a stain to the top edge that does not impact the interior pages. Age tanning throughout with light foxing on endpapers and reserve sides of illustrations. There is a previous owner inscription on the front free endpaper, "1st prize Presented to Fred Pallerson for regular attendance by the Central Presbyterian Sunday School, Dec 20th, 1886". Tissue guard intact over frontispiece. Otherwise, all interior pages are clean with no tears, cracks, or previous owner marks. Illustrated with eight original black & white drawing, it is the story of a tribe of white Africans, descended from Portuguese explorers that flourished in the Congo. 288 pages. Dimensions: H – 7-1/2" W – 5"

David Ker (1842 – 1914) was a British journalist, and special correspondent, for the London Daily Telegraph until his downfall over the false reporting of the "fall of the Khanate of Khiva". Ker graduated from Wadham College, Oxford in 1865 becoming a journalist and prolific writer for magazines and newspapers. In 1873 he set off for Khiva via the Georgian capital of Tbilisi where his journalist failure began when he was "sacked" from the Telegraph. After his return to London, he never again worked as a journalist but instead became one of the "most prolific and successful Victorian writers of imperial adventure stories for children," much of it serialized in the "Boy's Own Paper." Beginning in 1870 until 1903 he wrote numerous books like this one about exotic adventure that took place in distant lands. It should be noted that most sources indicate the White African story was first published in 1886 but there could have been an earlier 1863 edition.

Walter Stanley Paget (1862 – 1935) was an English illustrator for many famous British juvenile authors among them Ker. He held a gold medal from the Royal Academy of Arts. It is said that when his brother Sidney got the commission to illustrated Sherlock Holmes, he used his brother as the model for Holmes.