In 1879, J A Farrer’s Zululand and the Zulus gave the British public the desired background to the conflict in Cetshwayo’s far-off kingdom. The book draws from published works on the Zulus, including those of Bishop Callaway and explorers. While purporting to suspend judgment on the question of the conflict’s merits, Farrer opines that "it is scarcely conceivable that the war was precipitated without just reason … " For a rare insight into the mood of the times, Zululand and the Zulus is certainly worth having. We have a nice copy of this uncommon work this month.

The Zulus’ staunchest defenders included the Colenso family, particularly the Bishop and his daughter Harriette Emily. Bishop Colenso’s good opinion of Cetshwayo and his subjects might have carried greater weight had the Bishop not been the subject of huge controversy owing to his religious views. In Lectures on the Pentateuch and the Moabite Stone, he expresses the higher critical arguments gaining popularity in Germany, but then regarded as heretical by many Anglicans. We have an 1878 version of this work on offer this month. It is inscribed by the author’s devoted daughter Harriette Emily, whose name was closely associated with the Zulus’ cause, long after the death of her father.

J A Farrer dismisses Boer claims to a portion of Zululand abutting the Transvaal border. The area is, to this day, prime farming country occupied by largely Afrikaner landowners. Whereas almost all communication in KwaZulu-Natal is in either English or Zulu, the preponderance of Afrikaans-speakers in the province’s sheep-farming territory may explain why the Durban wool merchants Nosworthy Hampson & Co., in a striking early 20th century poster, chose to advertise their business in the Taal. Posters, ephemeral items that they are, do not generally survive well. The framed Nosworthy Hampson print we have this month is a remarkable exception to this rule.

At the age of 74, the intrepid Marina King and a few companions (including a Zulu boy named Two) set out from Natal, aiming to reach Europe by travelling overland. They got as far as Lake Victoria before having to compromise and head for the coast. The story makes a good read, as does Dudley Clarke’s Seven Assignments, in which the author and his men successfully “explore the possibilities of an overland route from Mombasa to Cairo.” Clarke has six other assignments, including forming the commandos. Major-General Sir Francis de Guingand, in African Assignment, enjoys the Nyika Plateau with the King’s African Rifles. The earliest European ventures into central Africa had been by Portuguese. Today, driving the corridor between Zimbabwe and Malawi feels like time travel, especially when one comes upon Tete beside the Zambesi, a place the Portuguese settled hundreds of years ago, in the heart of Africa. Malyn Newitt’s Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi is the authoritative work on the Portuguese in this region. We have Newitt, de Guingand, Dudley Clarke and Marina King lined up this month.

Fabulous wealth in the heart of Africa was no longer mere legend after the De Kaap Valley, and particularly the Sheba Reef, started to yield ore laden with gold. Prospectors flocked to Barberton, intent on making their fortunes. Among several share certificates on offer this month are some connected with the Barberton finds of the 1880s. Interestingly, companies offering shares in Barberton’s gold were in those days floated on stock exchanges in such places as Kimberley, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth. And so, scripophilists may delight in the offerings of the ‘Kimberley Sheba Gold Mining Company’ (of Kimberley), ‘The Great Britain Gold Mining Company’ (of Port Elizabeth), ‘The Blue Rock Sheba Gold Mining Company’ (of Cape Town), and so forth. Unfortunately, as Alpheus F. Williams observes in Some Dreams Come True, “untested properties were foisted on the public in incredible numbers.” Ultimately, “numbers of worthless companies went into liquidation.”

The truism of Conquest following Commerce, Christianity and Commerce seems to have applied throughout Europe’s contact with Africa. Still, there has generally been an assumption of the moral superiority of at least one colonial power, Great Britain, as implied, for example, by J A Farrer’s acceptance of the war in Zululand. Certainly, during the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya during the 1950s, the colonial government was able to portray the enemy as barbaric, and itself as the guardian of civilisation. Until the publication of Record of Proceedings and Evidence in the Inquiry into the deaths of eleven Mau Mau detainees at Hola Camp, that is. Caroline Elkins writes: "In the end it was the public exposure of the beating to death of 11 detainees at Hola Camp in March 1959 that brought the detention system, and British rule in Kenya, to an end." This month, we have the report on the Inquiry.

Wopko Jensma was the star act of Ophir, a groundbreaking poetry journal published in Pretoria between 1967 and 1976. As observed by Michael Gardiner, Jensma displayed “an African sensibility so strong” that it was assumed by many, including black writers who had not met him, that he was black. We have some issues of Ophir this month. Enjoy the books.