The Journal of Gustaf de Vylder: Naturalist in South-Western Africa, 1873-1875 (Van Riebeeck Society, Second Series, No. 28)

xliv, 294pp, tipped in colour frontispiece and occasional further black and white illustrations and maps in text. Maps on endpapers. In brown cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering. 8vo. A couple of very small spots on front panel, else neat, clean, bright and tight throughout. In its original dust jacket, lightly bumped at head of a slightly sunned spine. de Vylder was a Swedish naturalist who, after years in Cape Town, journeyed to present day Namibia between 1873 and 1875, collecting insects and other natural history specimens. His journey was made when European presence was slightly - before the German Colonial Occupation and his journal is a record of an adventure, personal encounters and conditions in what was then considered to a remote region. He was a man of his age, with advanced and provocative views, which shine through his journals.