Travels in South Africa: Undertaken At the Request of the Missionary Society, Being a Narrative of a Second Journey in the Interior of That Country

You will not find a cheaper first edition anywhere else.

2-volume set bound into a single volume, 1822 first editions

Only one of the illustrations is an original hand-colored aquatint, all of the others are facsimile reproductions, for a total of 12 illustrations. The large folding map is a facsimile. 2 leaves of text are also facsimile. This book was formerly in the Johannesburg Public Library (South Africa) collection.

John Campbell (1766-1840) was a Scottish missionary and traveler. He was passionate about Christian philanthropy, which led to his founding of the Magdalene Society in 1793 and the Missionary Magazine (Edinburgh) in 1796. He travelled to preach in neglected villages, promoting the establishment of Sunday schools. The Magdalen Asylum to help prostitutes in England and Glasgow, founded by Campbell, was one of several societies he created to help those in need. He opposed the slave trade and became involved in the Society for the Education of Africans. Through collaboration with James Alexander Haldane, he brought 30-40 African children to England to be educated. In 1812 he was sent by the London Missionary Society to inspect mission stations at the Cape. His account of the trip was published in 1815 on his return, titled "Travels in South Africa, undertaken at the request of the Missionary Society". Campbell returned to the Cape in 1819, this time to improve those mission stations that had fallen into neglect. In 1820, he travelled north from Cape to Mosega in Barotseland and the Kaditshwene settlement near the Limpopo River. He left Cape for England in 1821 and published two further volumes covering his journey.