WIT AND WISDOM FROM WEST AFRICA; A Book of Proverbial Philosophy, Idioms, Enigmas, and Laconisms

The very rare first edition. 8vo, in the scarce publisher?s binding of full plum cloth lettered in gilt on the spine and stamped in blind on the covers. Housed in a handsome foldover box. xxx +[i]+[i] (blank), 455. A very nice copy with some expected age-wear and expert refreshinging to the cloth hinges.

Edizione: a rare work by burton, being a collection of proverbs and sayings from the wolof, kanuri, oji, ga or accra, yoruba, efik or old calabar, and mpangwe languages. his purpose in making this collection of literary and oral compositions available was to offer "a practical acquaintance with the language[s]" and to introduce "the reader to some extent into the inward world of negro mind and negro thoughts; and this is a circumstance of paramount importance, so long as there are any who either flatly negative the question, or, at least, still consider it open, 'whether the negroes are a genuine portion of mankind or not'.such specimens may go a long way towards refuting the old-fashioned doctrine of an essential inequality of the negroes with the rest of mankind, which now and then shows itself, not only in america, but also in europe."