The South African Public Library: Its African Collections in 1881

Abstract

The History of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope by the Hon. Alexander Wilmot and the Hon. John Centilivres Chase was published in Cape Town by J.C. Juta in 1869. In his South African Bibliography (London 1910), Mendelssohn commented that “This was the first regular and consecutive history of the Cape Colony”. He drew attention to George McCall Theal's comment in his History of South Africa, vol. IV (1834-1854) (London 1893) that “It is now out of print and it is rarely met with”. In his own Catalogue of Books and Pamphlets Relating to Africa South of the Zambezi (Cape Town, S.A. [1912]) published two years later, Theal added that “Before 1892 there was not a copy even in the South African public library at Capetown”.