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14.5 cm x 22.5 cm. Frontispiece, XXXII, 169 pages. 5 illustrations, including frontispiece. Hardcover [publisher's original red cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. Emblem of Folk-Lore Society embossed on front board. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Tissue guard in excellent condition. Scarce. Inscribed by the author R.E. Dennett on half-title. Very important early account on the Congo. Dennett later would meet Roger Casement. This inscribded book by him is of extreme value. [Publications of the Folk-Lore Society - Volume XLI - (1897)]. Includes, for example, the following: Introduction by Miss Kingsley / How the Nsassi (Gazelle) got Married / A Bakutu who came to Loango to see Nzambi / The Fight between the Two Fetishes, Lifuma and Chimpukela / The Fetish of Chilunga etc. Richard Edward Dennett (1857-1921) worked as an ivory trader in the Lower Congo between 1879 and 1902. In 1886 he drew attention to the brutal treatment of the Congloese through his letters to the Manchester Guardian. Moreover, he also edited a manuscript newspaper called "Congo Mirror" and accused the Congo officials of the murders and atrocities being committed. He was to become an active member of the Congo Reform Association, which sought to improve conditions for indigenous workers. Through his writings he met and frequently communicated with a number of influential people such as Roger Casement, Consul for the British government and journalist Edward Dene Morel, who produced the famous 1903 Congo Report. Dennett also studied the indigenous BaKongo community, recording his observations about their political and material culture. As a result he became involved in the institutions of anthropology and folklore in Britain which were attempting to explain, classify and interpret such cultures. Through examining Dennett s history this research has been able to explore the Congo context, the indigenous society, and those European institutions which collected and interpreted BaKongo collections. (Profile of Richard Dennet at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery website) The Folk-Lore Society was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts and crafts, customs and belief. The journal began as The Folk-Lore Record in 1878, continued or was restarted as The Folk-Lore Journal, and from 1890 its issues were compiled as volumes entitled "Folk-Lore: A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, & Custom. Incorporating The Archæological Review and The Folk-Lore Journal". Joseph Jacobs edited the first four annual volumes as the Quarterly Review, succeeded by Alfred Nutt. As the head of David Nutt (publishing house) in the Strand, Alfred Nutt was the publisher from 1890. (Wikipedia).
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