The Commissions of W C Palgrave, Special Emmissary to South West Africa, 1876-1885 (Van Riebeeck Society Second series, No. 21)

450pp, tipped in colour frontispiece and occasional further illustrations in black and white. Maps on endpapers. In grey cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering. 8vo. Text block edges tanned, mildly affecting page margins. In its original dust jacket, just a little bumped at edges.

Palgrave was active in South West Africa (now Namibia) over a period of 25 years, spending eight years in the country as a private individual before becoming a civil servant in Griqualand West, preparing himself for work as a Special Commissioner to Hereroland (or Damaraland, as it was called) and Namaland, undertaking five separate missions for the Cape Government in the early 1880s. It amounts to a series history of Namibia.