Country United Kingdom Publisher Trubner and Company Pages 250 Genre Non-fiction | Language English Publication date 1882 Originally published 1882 Page count 250 Editor H. Rider Haggard | |
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Similar H Rider Haggard books, Classical Studies books | ||
Cetywayo and his white neighbours by henry rider haggard book reading british english female voice
Cetywayo and His White Neighbours, or Remarks on Recent Events in Zululand, Natal and the Transvaal is a 1882 non-fiction book by H. Rider Haggard, his first full-length published work. It was based on his time working in South Africa. The "Cetywayo" of the title is the Zulu king Cetshwayo kaMpande.
Contents
- Cetywayo and his white neighbours by henry rider haggard book reading british english female voice
- Background
- Reception
- References
Background
Haggard had worked for six years in South Africa. He wrote the book at Norwood in 1881 while also studying for the Bar. He later said it "represented a great amount of labour. I was determined that it should be accurate, and to ensure this I purchased all the Blue-books dealing with the period of which I was treating."
He sent it off to various publishers and only received one offer – from Trubner and Company, who offered to produce 750 copies if Haggard gave them fifty pounds. The author did so.
Reception
The book had some good reviews and Haggard received letters of praise from such figures as Lord Carnarvon and Randolph Churchill but by 1883 had only sold 154 copies, meaning he lost his fifty pounds. A revised edition was published in 1888. Although by this time Haggard had become a popular novelist, the later edition was not popular either. Haggard claims however that a 1899 edition sold 30,000 copies.