THE WILD SPORTS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA; Being the Narrative of a Hunting Expedition From the Cape of Good Hope, Through the Territories of the Chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn

London: Pelham Richardson, 1844. Fourth edition, and a preferred edition as the first edition did not include the hand-coloured lithographic plates. Illustrated with 26 hand-colored lithographed plates, folding map at rear. Tall, royal 8vo, very handsomely bound by Period Binders of Bath, England in three-quarter sienna morocco over marbled boards, the spine with raised bands gilt stopped and gilt ruled, gilt lettered in two compartments of the spine, the other four compartments with fine gilt tooled framed panels enclosing a gilt tool of crossed guns, all edges gilt, marbled endleaves to match, original cloth upper cover decorative panel showing four animals, lion, giraffe, Cape buffalo and elephant portrayed in gilt is bound in at the end of the volume. xvi, 359, 6 ads. pp. A beautiful and very handsome copy in a fine binding. The binding secure, tight and strong, the text-block and illustrations all in very pleasing order. A very fine copy of this important book. Discrete library stamp to the verso of one prelim. THE BEST EDITION AND VERY SCARCE IN SUCH A HANDSOME AND APPEALING BINDING. One of the greatest 19th century works on African game and a true canon title of the genre. Harris’ study goes far beyond simple game hunting and is a valuable look into the Africa of the day. In addition to the studies of the wildlife, he also gives us through both the text and the lithographic plates a look at some of the indigenous peoples of the region. This work is regarded as the first book to be penned on the hunting of game animals in Africa. A cornerstone work of the African oeuvre.
The plates themselves are highly noteworthy. The images are dynamic and capture the movements, the very nuances, of the subjects. In many cases these were among the earliest glimpses Western peoples experienced of these fascinating animals and peoples. The colour reproduction is excellent and the plates in this copy are particularly clean and bright.