An exceptionally scarce devotional volume in a handsome period binding, apparently represented by a single institutional holding and offering notable evidence of nineteenth-century African-language publishing.

Bibliographic Details

Author: John Wesley (1703–1791).
Title: Intshumayelo ezilishumi linantlanu...
Translator: Rev. E. J. Bartlett, Wesleyan missionary active in South Africa during the nineteenth century.
Place: Erini [Grahamstown], South Africa.
Publisher: Wesleyan Mission Press.
Date: 1877.
Edition: First edition.
Pagination: 179 pages.
Language: Xhosa.
Binding: Contemporary half calf over maroon cloth, with gilt lettering and decorative gilt device to the upper cover.
Provenance: Contemporary ink ownership inscription to the title page.
Format: Small octavo.
Size: Approximately 17.7 × 11 cm.
Institutional Rarity: WorldCat records one copy, held by the National Library of South Africa.

Condition

Very Good. Some rubbing to the calf spine and corners, with general light wear consistent with age and use. The pages remain clean and quite bright, with only minor age-toning. Contemporary ink inscription to the title page. The binding remains sound and attractive, and the gilt lettering and device to the upper cover continue to present well.

Please ask if you require a more detailed condition report, or examine the gallery images closely.

Description

A rare first edition of this Xhosa translation of fifteen sermons by John Wesley, prepared by the Wesleyan missionary Rev. E. J. Bartlett and printed at the Wesleyan Mission Press in Grahamstown in 1877. Combining extreme bibliographical scarcity with considerable linguistic, religious and historical interest, the volume is an important survival from the history of missionary printing in southern Africa.

The explanatory statement printed on the verso of the title page describes the work as: “Fifteen sermons of the Rev. John Wesley, translated into Kafir by the Rev. E. J. Bartlett.” The terminology quoted here is that used in the original publication; the language is now properly identified as Xhosa.

John Wesley was the English cleric, theologian and evangelist whose preaching and organisational work stood at the centre of the eighteenth-century religious revival from which Methodism developed. His published sermons formed a foundational body of Methodist teaching, addressing Christian faith, salvation, moral conduct, spiritual discipline and the practical application of religious belief.

Their translation for Xhosa-speaking readers reflects the substantial programme of vernacular Methodist publishing undertaken by missionary organisations during the nineteenth century. Such works were intended for preaching, personal devotion, religious instruction and the training of local teachers and ministers, while also contributing to the growth of literacy and written literature in African languages.

The volume was produced by the Wesleyan Mission Press at Grahamstown, one of the important centres of missionary and educational printing in the Eastern Cape. Mission presses issued scriptures, hymn books, sermons, school texts, grammars and other instructional works for local circulation, often in relatively small numbers and for intensive practical use.

The place of publication is given as Erini, a Xhosa name historically associated with Grahamstown. This local form of the imprint reinforces the book’s character as a publication created within South Africa for a regional readership, rather than as a British edition intended primarily for export.

Bartlett’s work belongs to the broader history of translation between European and African religious traditions. Rendering Wesley’s theological language into Xhosa required more than the substitution of individual words: abstract concepts, biblical references and Methodist expressions had to be communicated in a form intelligible to readers from a different linguistic and cultural background.

The book is also a notable physical object. Its contemporary half-calf binding over maroon cloth, enriched with gilt lettering and a decorative device to the upper cover, is considerably more substantial than the plain or utilitarian bindings often associated with mission publications. The compact format would nevertheless have made it convenient for private reading, teaching or ministerial use.

The contemporary ink inscription on the title page provides evidence of early ownership and circulation. Books of this type were frequently subjected to heavy use in schools, churches and mission stations, and many were read to destruction. The clean and comparatively bright state of the text in this example is therefore especially pleasing.

WorldCat records only one institutional copy, held by the National Library of South Africa. While such databases cannot provide a definitive census of every surviving example, this exceptionally limited recorded presence strongly indicates that the work is a genuine South African printing rarity.

The volume possesses relevance well beyond the collecting of Wesleyana. It offers source material for the study of Xhosa-language literature, African Christianity, colonial education, missionary linguistics, translation history, indigenous readerships and the development of regional printing in the Eastern Cape.

An exceptional opportunity to acquire a little-recorded nineteenth-century African-language book, preserved in an attractive contemporary binding and combining Methodist, linguistic and South African historical significance.

Notes

The historical language used in the English statement on the verso of the title page is now considered outdated and offensive. It is quoted only because it forms part of the original printed text and helps identify the edition accurately.

The title may be rendered approximately as “Fifteen Sermons,” corresponding with the English description printed within the volume.

The WorldCat holding should be understood as evidence of extreme institutional scarcity rather than a definitive statement that no additional copies survive in private or uncatalogued collections.