The Anglo-Boer War. No. 8. After De la Rey

[Boer War]. GUEST, Herbert Melville

Published by H.M. Guest, Printer, Publisher, Stationer, Bookseller, etc., Klerksdorp, 1902

About this Item

Klerksdorp, H.M. Guest, Printer, Publisher, Stationer, Bookseller, etc. 1902. Octavo (228 × 142 mm), 8 pages including the publisher's advertisement on the last page (but pages 2 and 7 are blank). One large sheet, folded but uncut and unopened, as issued; small puncture in the top left-hand corner; bottom margins of the first and last leaves slightly chipped and creased; in very good condition. 'The operations against the Boers in the neighbourhood of Klerksdorp, which were begun on Sunday night, March 23rd, 1902, were very cleverly conceived and executed. The object of the operations was to form a long line of mounted men with the left on the Lichtenburg blockhouse, and its right on the Vaal River, and to work against the line of blockhouses' (opening paragraph). Guest's account of this epic drive against De la Rey, the Boers' commander in the Western Transvaal, during which the troops made a round trip of 80 miles in 24 hours, was written and printed in Klerksdorp soon after the event. In 1939, Herman Guest, the publisher's son, had some of these original Klerksdorp printings bound up and issued with a new foreword, telling the story of the production of his father's 'records of the campaign in the Western Transvaal and elsewhere. It will be realized that the accounts were written during times of stress, and consequently some of the statements have an "ex parte" complexion. The[ir] value . lies in the fact that [they were] written and produced when Klerksdorp was practically in a state of siege. The inhabitants were unable to proceed a mile in any direction from the market square, and the one railway line, although closely guarded, was frequently disturbed by Boers'. Provenance: a Western Australian member of the 4th Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse.

Seller Inventory # 121026

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Anglo-Boer War. No. 8. After De la Rey
• Publisher: H.M. Guest, Printer, Publisher, Stationer, Bookseller, etc., Klerksdorp
• Publication Date: 1902
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Boer War
  • Africa
  • British Isles