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    Francois le Vaillant: Travels into the interior of Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. Vol II
    Translated with an Introduction and Notes by D.J. Culpin
    Volume:
    III-3 (2021)
    Print Status:
    In Print (eBook available)
    This volume of Le Vaillant’s Travels continues the narrative of his journey, begun in Volume 1, from the time of his arrival at Kok’s Kraal on the banks of the Great Fish River, where he pitched camp and remained from 12 October until 4 December 1782. This sojourn of two months was the longest time that Le Vaillant remained in...
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  • Indoda Ebisithanda ("The Man Who Loved Us") - The Reverend James Laing among the amaXhosa, 1831-1836
    Edited by Sandra Rowoldt Shell
    Volume:
    III-1 (2019)
    Print Status:
    In Print (eBook available)
    This study is a critical edition of a section of the journals of the Reverend James Laing of the Glasgow Missionary Society. The first scholarly study of the Laing journals, this thesis seeks to contribute towards a new understanding of the early days of transcultural interchange on the Eastern Cape frontier. The only previous published work on Laing is William Govan's hagiographical Memorials...
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  • Into the hitherto Unknown. Ensign Beutler's Expedition to the Eastern Cape, 1752
    Translated by Thea Toussaint van Hove and Michael Wilson. Edited and Introduced by Hazel Crampton, Jeff Peires and Carl Vernon
    Volume:
    II-44 (2013)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    By 1752, the lands beyond Mossel Bay were officially unknown. The Beutler expedition, was tasked by Governor Rijk Tulbagh to obtain a thorough knowledge of the hitherto unknown condition of these interior lands. The reader of the Journal will meet the fauna and flora of the region, as well as the indigenous peoples of the Eastern Cape.
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  • The South African Letters of Thomas Pringle
    Edited and introduced by Randolph Vigne
    Volume:
    II-42 (2011)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    Thomas Pringle (1789–1834) is remembered as ‘the father of English poetry’ in this country, as leader of the only Scottish settler party in 1820 and as a champion of the freedom of the press. He had an earlier career as founding editor of Blackwood’s Magazine in Edinburgh and a later one as man of letters in London and secretary of...
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  • Isaac Williams Wauchope: Selected Writings 1874-1916
    Edited and translated by Jeff Opland and Abner Nyamende with an introduction and notes by Jeff Opland
    Volume:
    II-39 (2008)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    Isaac Williams Wauchope (1852-1917) was a prominent member of the Eastern Cape African elite in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a Congregational minister, political activist, historian, poet and, ultimately, legendary hero in the Mendi disaster. A Lovedale student, he was instrumental in founding one of the first political organisations for Africans, an enthusiastic campaigner for the establishment of...
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  • Francois le Vaillant: Travels into the interior of Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. Vol I
    Translated and edited by Ian Glenn with the assistance of Catherine Lauga du Plessis and Ian Farlam
    Volume:
    II-38 (2007)
    Print Status:
    In Print (eBook available)
    In 1780 the young Francois Vaillant set out from Holland for the Cape to collect specimens of birds and animals. His account of his travels, which was published widely during the revolutionary period, became an influential piece of writing about South Africa, popular throughout Europe and reflected many Enlightenment attitudes.I t was the first highly critical account of Dutch colonialism...
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  • Moravians in the Eastern Cape 1828-1928
    Translated by F.R. Baudert, edited by T. Keegan
    Volume:
    II-35 (2004)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    The four missionary texts which make up this volume reveal the little-known range of Moravian missionary work in the Eastern Cape, from its inception in 1828 to 1928. Vivid and subjective in character, they illuminate this field of Moravian mission activity in South Africa, which extended to the Xhosa the pioneering work done at Genadendal and its family of stations...
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  • Guillaume Chenu de Chalezac, the 'French Boy'
    Edited and introduced by Randolph Vigne
    Volume:
    II-22 (1991)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    The 15-year-old 'French boy' was wrecked on he Ciskei coast in 1687, and spent a year living in the household of a Xhosa chief. The worlds of the Huguenot diaspora, the great days of Indian Ocean trading, the Cape's pivotal position in the struggle for mastery, and the awakening interest of the Dutch in the 'Terra de Natal' form a...
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  • The Frontier War Journal of Major John Crealock 1878
    Edited and introduced by Chris Hummel
    Volume:
    II-19 (1988)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    Major John North Crealock (1837-1895) fought in a number of colonial wars, including the Indian Mutiny and the Anglo-Zulu War. This volume is a detailed account of the warfare conducted against the Xhosa in the last phases of the frontier war of 1877-1878. Opinionated and inefficient, Crealock nevertheless gives a sober account of the military situation.
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  • Carl Peter Thunberg. Travels at the Cape of Good Hope 1772-1775
    Edited by Emeritus Prof. V.S. Forbes and translated from the Swedish by J and I Rudner
    Volume:
    II-17 (1986)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    Carl Peter Thunberg (1743), a Swede and disciple of the renowned botanist, Linnaeus the elder, was the first university graduate to travel extensively in the Cape interior, preceding the expedition of his compatriot, Anders Sparrman. Apart from recounting his three journeys - two to the Eastern Cape as far as the Sundays River, and one to the Roggeveld - he...
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  • The Letters of Jane Elizabeth Waterston 1866-1905
    Edited by Lucy Bean and Elizabeth B. van Heyningen with an introduction by Elizabeth B. van Heyningen
    Volume:
    II-14 (1983)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    Jane Waterston (1843-1932) accompanied the missionary, Dr James Stewart, to the Eastern Cape when he became principal of the Lovedale Institution. There she started the Girls' Institution but her real desire was to work as a doctor amongst women in the interior of Africa. In 1874 she returned to England where she was amongst the first women to train in...
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  • William Somerville's narrative of his journeys to the Eastern Cape frontier and to Lattakoe 1799-1802
    Introduction and notes by Edna and Frank Bradlow
    Volume:
    II-10 (1979)
    Print Status:
    Out of print
    William Somerville, an Edinburgh doctor, accompanied the invading forces of Major-General Craig when the British took the Cape in 1795. He remained at the Cape for some years, accompanying Major-General Dundas to the eastern districts during the height of conflict on the frontier. Subsequently he accompanied an expedition to the Orange River. On both occasions he recorded the cultures...
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  • Anders Sparrman. Travels in the Cape 1772-1776: Vol. II
    With introduction and editing by Prof. Vernon S. Forbes. Translated from the Swedish by J. and I. Rudner.
    Volume:
    II-7 (1976)
    Print Status:
    Out of print (Softbound reprint and eBook available)
    This second volume of Sparrman's travels concerns his account of his journey to the Eastern Cape including a stay at Agter Bruintjies Hoogte. It includes comments on the practices of the Khoi of the eastern districts and of local flora and fauna.
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  • Anders Sparrman. Travels in the Cape 1772-1776; Vol. I
    With introduction and editing by Prof. Vernon S. Forbes. Translated from the Swedish by J. and I. Rudner.
    Volume:
    II-6 (1975)
    Print Status:
    Out of print (Softbound reprint and eBook available)
    Anders Sparrman (1748-1820), a young Swedish doctor, is noteworthy for his visit to parts of the Cape which were little known at that time. This first volume describes his journey past Mossel Bay and through the Langkloof.
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  • Beschryvinge van Kaap der Goede Hoope, met de zaaken daar toe behoorende, door François Valentyn, 1726. Dl. I.
    Edited and annotated by Prof. P. Serton, Dr. W.J. de Kock, Maj. R. Raven-Hart. Final Editor Dr. E.H. Raidt. English translation by R. Raven-Hart and introduction by P. Serton
    Volume:
    II-2 (1971)
    Print Status:
    Out of print
    François Valentyn (1666-1727) was sent out to the Dutch East Indies as a young man to work as a minister of religion. His interests extended to the natural world which he encountered in the Moluccas and the Cape. Valentyn visited the Cape several times over a period of almost 30 years and observed the changes occurring in the fledgling colony...
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  • Reize in de Binnen-Landen van Zuid-Africa. Gedaan in den Jaare 1803 door W.B.E. Paravicini di Capelli, Kapitein Aide de Camp, by den Gouverneur van de Caap de Goede Hoop
    Uitgegee en toegelig met inleiding, voetnote, sketskaarte en verkorte weergawe in Engels deur W.J. de Kock
    Volume:
    I-46 (1965)
    Print Status:
    Out of Print
    Paravicini di Capelli was an artillery-captain at the time of the Batavian Republic and aide-de-camp of the Cape governor, General Jan Willem Janssens. He travelled with the governor into the interior, keeping an official journal as well as his own, and was active in preparations of the Cape against attack by the British, travelling widely during this period. In 1804...
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  • The Cape Journals of Archdeacon N.J. Merriman, 1848-55
    Edited by D.H. Varley and H.M. Matthew
    Volume:
    I-37 (1957 for 1956)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    Archdeacon Merriman was appointed Archdeacon of Grahamstown by Bishop Robert Gray in 1848. his instructions were to expand the church in the Eastern Cape by establishing new congregations and building churches in the small townships. He was to 'awaken 'religious instincts long dormant through lack of opportunity' and to 'preach to barbarous people the saving grace of Christianity.' In accomplishing...
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  • A Source Book on the Wreck of the Grosvenor East Indiaman
    Compiled and edited by Percival R. Kirby
    Volume:
    I-34 (1953)
    Print Status:
    In Print
    This volume is a companion to The Wreck of the Grosvenor, published by the VRS in 1927. It includes various accounts of the wreck, the journal of William Hubberly, a survivor of the wreck, as well as some Dutch material on the event. The volume concludes with a full list of the ship's company and passengers.
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  • The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain, Albany Settler of 1820; Vol. II
    Edited by Una Long
    Volume:
    I-29 (1949 for 1948)
    Print Status:
    Out of print (Softbound reprint and eBook available)
    In the second volume of his journal, Goldswain described the increasing tension between black and white on the frontier, his experiences as a trader, and his relations with his own family, including their medical treatment. His journal is most attractive for its naïve frankness.
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  • Journals of Andrew Geddes Bain, trader, explorer, soldier, road engineer and geologist
    Edited by Margaret Hermina Lister
    Volume:
    I-30 (1949)
    Print Status:
    Out of Print
    Andrew Geddes Bain is best known for his building of Cape roads and passes. His diaries, from 1826 to the 1840s, were both working journals and accounts of his experiences and descriptions of the people he encountered in the course of his work. This volume includes his chronicle of his journey in 1826 to the northern Cape.
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  • The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain, Albany Settler of 1820: Vol. I
    Edited by Una Long
    Volume:
    I-27 (1946)
    Print Status:
    Out of print (Softbound reprint and eBook available)
    Jeremiah Goldswain's journals, written phonetically in his mid-English dialect, have been a source of interest to linguists as well as historians. A sawyer from Buckinghamshire, Goldswain migrated to the Eastern Cape in 1820. The first part of his journal describes the early difficulties of the settlers on the frontier
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  • South African Journal of John Sheddon Dobie, 1862-6
    Edited by A.F. Hattersley
    Volume:
    I-26 (1945)
    Print Status:
    Out of print
    After emigrating to Australia twice, where he had acquired experience in sheep farming, in 1862 Dobie emigrated to Natal, intending to bring sheep farming to Natal. He had little success and left Natal in 1866 for South America. The diary describes his attempts at pastoral farming and his experiences in Natal.
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  • The Narrative of Private Buck Adams, 7th (Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards on the Eastern Frontier of the Cape of Good Hope, 1843-1848
    Edited by A. Gordon-Brown
    Volume:
    I-22 (1941)
    Print Status:
    Out of print
    An unusual account of military life on the Eastern Frontier from the perspective of a common soldier. Adams wrote his account in 1884, forty years after his service in South Africa. The editor observes that 'His improbable tales have proved substantially true on investigation'. He served in the War of the Axe and the action at Zwart Koppies in the...
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  • Die Joernaal van Dirk Gysbert van Reenen, 1803
    Uitgegee deur wyle prof. dr. W. Blommaert en prof. J.A. Wiid. With an English translation by J.L.M. Franken and Ian M. Murray
    Volume:
    I-18 (1937)
    Print Status:
    Out of print (Softbound reprint available)
    This is an account of a journey in to the Eastern Cape undertaken by the Governor of the Cape, J.W. Janssens and Capt Paravicini de Capelli, recorded by D.G. van Reenen. Van Reenen was a prominent burger at the Cape, a winemaker, reputed to make the best wine in the Cape, and he held the wine and meat contracts...
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  • Lichtenstein, Henry - Travels in Southern Africa in the years 1803 - 1806; by Henry Lichtenstein; Vol II
    Translated from the original German by Anne Plumptre. London, 1812-15
    Volume:
    I-11 (1928-30)
    Print Status:
    Out of print
    In this second volume Lichtenstein returned to Cape Town via Graaff Reinet and the Karroo. Subsequently he returned to the Swellendam district. His last journey took him north to Kuruman where he encountered the Koranna and the Bechuana.
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