Red Strangers

London: Chatto & Windus, 1939. Book. Fair. Hardcover. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. NB: No dustjacket. Ochre yellow cloth with title in gilt on spine. Condition: Fair, covers are generally shelfworn, with sunning to spine. Some bumping to lower outer cover corners. Foxing throughout, particularly to the first and last few pages. Binding sound. The name Huxley is written on the front endpaper in pencil. 406pp. 16 pages of sepia photographic plates. The book is a novel about life among the Kikuyu (and the Masai) and the effect of the coming of the white man on their traditional societies. Loosely inserted with the book are two handwritten letters to Elspeth Huxley (1907-1997) from the British paleoanthropologist and archaeologist Louis Leakey (1903-1972). The first letter is dated July 4, 1939 and initially Louis Leakey mentions a few corrections that could be made to the facts in the text of Red Strangers. He then goes on to request her help in finding financial supporters for a weekly Kikuyu newspaper that he is thinking of starting. The second letter is undated, and may have been enclosed with the first letter as it consists mainly of the detailed corrections that he would like made to the text of Red Strangers, assuming that it goes to a second edition. The corrections include details of various tribal initiation rites. Both letters are addressed to "Elspeth" and signed Louis Leakey. Both letters are written in ink on one side only. The first letter is 4 pages long and the second 6 pages..