Sporting Scenes Amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa

First published in London in 1858, and includes illustrations in color by Harrison Weir. Copies are found in red or blue cloth with same gilt titling and decoration to upper cover.

A second edition was published in 1860 with new black and white illustrations by Dalziel after Joseph Wolf. 

Borrowed from Clarke's Africana & Rare Books: 

327 pages, double-tinted lithographic frontispiece and 7 double-tinted lithographic plates, 1 engraved plate of paw prints, cloth with a gilt vignette of an elephant on the upper cover and gilt decoration and titling on the spine.

The lithographs are inked in brown with a heavy green overlay which makes them unusually vibrant but which can also cause foxing on the tissue guards. The plates are generally described as chromolithographs (a technique involving the use of multiple lithographic stones) indicating many colors were used, but in fact only two colors are employed..

The narrative is primarily a memoir recounting hunting expeditions (sporting scenes) in the border regions between the Cape Colony and the territories of the Xhosa people (referred to by the historical term "Kaffirs"). It details the pursuit of large game—lions, buffalo, elephant, and antelope—mixed with observations on the customs of the indigenous people and the hardships of military life on the frontier. It is one of the foundational texts of South African big-game hunting literature, rivalling the works of Cornwallis Harris and William Cotton Oswell. It provides a detailed record of the frontier environment, military routines, and the social and political atmosphere leading up to the major border wars of the mid-19th century.

Harrison William Weir (1824–1906) was one of the most prolific and influential British illustrators of the Victorian era, particularly renowned for his work focusing on animals and natural history.

"An account of hunting and sporting experiences in Kaffraria and Natal. The author joined a party of Boer hunters who were making an excursion into the plains under the Drakensburg mountains, near the sources of the Mooi river. He remarks on the wonderful eyesight possessed by these people and their contempt for the English as sportsmen. There is a good account of the natives with many notes of the fauna of the country." (Mendelssohn)

I own an 1858 first edition with the Weir color illustrations, in original binding, but recased. I also own a rebound 1858 first edition, but with the Wolf black and white illustrations instead of the Weir color illustrations.  The copy below is not in my collection.