Description
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York. Published date: 1929. Hardcover, xvi, 262 pp; 22 cm. Early printing. Illustrated. Red cloth boards with black palm tree vignette on front cover and black lettering on spine.
Rare, out-of-print & unusual books · Since 1997
110
Turn the pages with the arrows, keyboard, or a swipe.
Catalog notes
Condition & notes
In acceptable condition / no dust jacket. Boards show light to moderate surface wear with bumping and rubbing to edges and corners and light overall soiling; spine has some mild discoloration and light wear; rear hinge split and the cloth mesh exposed and a few cracks visible to the spine on interior pages, but the binding remains intact and the text block is still attached; interior pages lightly toned but otherwise unmarked. Autobiographical narrative of Captain Harry Dean recounting his life as a Black sea captain and adventurer whose travels carried him across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and throughout southern Africa. According to the preface written by Sterling North (1906-1974), the account was recorded after Dean arrived in Chicago late in life and related stories of decades spent at sea and ashore across multiple continents. The narrative describes maritime voyages, encounters with traders and adventurers, and Dean's experiences moving through colonial port cities including Cape Town. Portions of the narrative recount Dean's claim of princely lineage in Africa and his attempt to establish an Ethiopian empire among African peoples in southern Africa. Contents include: My Ancestors Were Seafaring Men; I Go to Sea; We Round the Horn; Out to the Sandwich Islands Back to the Barbary Coast; The Full Moon and Her Villainous Crew; Is This the Hill Is This the Kirk Is This Mine Own Countree; Stavanger and the Pedro Gorino; Cape Town a Somali Prince and a Texas Cowboy; A Tramp Ship on the Indian Ocean; The Phantasy at Knysna; Lorenzo Marques for a Song; I Learn Intrigue at a Bitter School; We Hunt for Seal and Whale in the Straits of Mozambique; The Black Archangel and His Sword of Fire; In the Hands of the Boers; Then On Across South Africa; Segow Faku King of the Pondos; Two Strange Stories; The End of an Old Feud; We Hunt a Man Eating Lion; A Chapter on Death; The Queen of the Basutos; A Battle with the Boers; Diamond Kings and Diamond Smugglers; The Swazis and the Zulus Go to War; Black Magic in the Basuto Mountains; The Meeting of the Kings; Ah South Africa Land of Villainy Blood and Tears.