Wit and Wisdom from West Africa;

BURTON (Richard F.).

Wit and Wisdom from West Africa;

or, a Book of Proverbial Philosophy, Idioms, Enigmas, and Laconisms.First edition. 8vo. Original plum cloth, very slightly shaken, lightly rubbed at edges, boards blind stamped, spine gilt with figure to lower half. xxxii, 455pp. London, Tinsley Brothers, 1865.

£3,250.00

Burton was of course a fine linguist and had served as Regimental Interpreter whilst in the Bengal Army, so it is hardly surprising that when posted as H.M. Consul at Fernando Po in 1861 he should pursue this great interest. Within two years he was able to write to his great friend Monkton Milnes from Dahome “African proverbs nearly ready. I shall send them to Tinsley…” (Dahome, 31st May, 1863).

Although not an original work, the material for this book had only existed previously in verbal forms. It is one of the most rare of Burton’s works, and comprises proverbs from seven languages (Wolof, Kanuri, Oji, Ga Yoruba, Efik and Fan), along with other miscellaneous material. Penzer, p75; Casati, 71.

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195805

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Wit and Wisdom from West Africa;

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