AFRICA THROUGH WESTERN EYES

Parts 1 & 2: Original Manuscripts from the Royal Commonwealth SocietyLibrary at Cambridge University Library

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Following on from the success of China Through Western Eyes and Japan Through Western Eyes, we are now pleased to offer a new series bringing together manuscript records of traders, travellers, soldiers, missionaries and diplomats in Africa.

The first two parts of Africa Through Western Eyes are based on the unique holdings of the Royal Commonwealth Society Library, now housed at Cambridge University Library. From its foundation in 1868, the organisation known successively as the Colonial Society, Royal Colonial Institute, Royal Empire Society and finally the Royal Commonwealth Society, amassed a vast library on the British Empire, the Commonwealth and member countries. The Library holds many valuable manuscripts and collections of papers. Some of the collections featured are:

- 41 notebooks of Cuthbert Christy, the explorer, featuring accounts of his experiences in Nigeria, 1896-1899, in Uganda, 1902-1903, the Congo, 1903-04 & 1912-16; Calabar & Benin, 1909, East Africa, c1910, and recording his work for the International Commission of Enquiry looking into slavery in Liberia.
- The African Diaries of A R H Mann recording a journey in 1935 from London, via Egypt, to the Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Belgian Congo, French Equatorial Africa, the Cameroons and South Africa.
- The Letterbooks and Diaries of Sir John Hawley Glover describing the Ashanti Campaign, 1873-1874.
- 5 volumes of notes concerning the local history, customs and administration of Senegambie.
- Reminiscences of Philip Louis Tengely about life in Benin, Accra and Sierra Leone at the turn of the century.
- An account of a journey in French West Africa, c1901, by S Forbes White.
- George K Baskerville's manuscript history of missionary activity in Uganda, 1876-1927.
- T O Fraser's Boer war diary and Charles du Val's The News of the Camp, issued during the Siege of Pretoria (the only complete collection)

This is only a sampling of the materials featured in our microfilm edition which is especially strong for Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Congo and Kenya. Such sources are ideally suited for use in student project work and provide evidence both of African Life and Culture, 1824-1935, and of the outlook of western explorers, soldiers, colonisers, traders and missionaries.

We are grateful to Terry Barringer, Librarian of the Royal Commonwealth Society Library for her help in the preparation of this microfilm edition and especially for providing brief biographies of many of the figures represented in this collection.

< Back