The Diamond-Field Keepsake for 1873. Dedicated, by Permission, to His Excellency Sir H. Barkly, K.C.B., Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, &c., &c.

MURRAY, Richard William

Verlag: Cape Town, Published by R. W. Murray, Sen., De Beer's New Rush, and printed by Saul Solomon & Co., [1873], 1873

Beschreibung

SOME OF THE EARLIEST PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DIAMOND FIELDS IN KIMBERLEY. FIRST EDITION. large 4to, 38 pp. plus initial and final blank. Oval photographic portrait of Henry Barkly on title-page and 7 early photographs of sites around the diamond fields laid down, some of which are folding. Text set in red borders. Elegant original publisher's purple cloth with gilt titles and decorations.With the bookplate of Prince Tommaso of Savoy, Duke of Genoa, to the front pastedown and his stamp on the t-p's upper corner. Some remains of the old paper shelfmark still glued on the lower inner corner, easily removable. A near-fine copy of this exceptionally rare work. "In these pages the early days of Kimberley are described and a valuable account of the history up to this period is given. With a lively account of O'Reilly s visit to the Van Niekerks' farm where the first diamond was spotted. The photographs, some full-page and others folding panoramic, actually show true to life the doings on the diamond-fields in the early rush." (Port Elizabeth sales catalogue of 1952). The author Richard William Murray (1819-1908) was a journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor and politician of the Cape Colony. He was a lifelong supporter of British imperial expansion. He left for the diamond fields, some sources stating 1866 and others 1867, and became the founding Editor of the Diamond News at Pniel, certainly in existence by 1870. In September 1871 the newspaper moved its location to Dutoitspan, this after all four of the four historic diamond mines had been discovered. Murray then became Editor of the Diamond Times newspaper in 1884, owned by Woolf Joel (nephew of Barney Barnato) which was established as a pro-Barnato newspaper used to attack Barnato s opponents including Cecil Rhodes. He returned to Cape Town for a few years but went back to Kimberley where he became a regular contributor to the various newspapers in existence. In his 1881 talk to the London Society of Arts about the South African Diamond industry, Murray said: "I have seen strong men tremble and clutch the staging whilst they looked into this great human ant hill! . Network of ropes as if they were spiders web". The Historical Society of Kimberley, South Africa, issued a reprint in 1979. Maggs, Catalogue 1351, n. 319. Not in Mendelssohn. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ABE-1653411612329

Bibliografische Details

Titel: The Diamond-Field Keepsake for 1873. ...

Verlag: Cape Town, Published by R. W. Murray, Sen., De Beer's New Rush, and printed by Saul Solomon & Co., [1873]

Erscheinungsdatum: 1873

Einband: Rilegato

Zustand: quasi ottimo

Auflage: prima edizione