The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland Being A Record of Excavation and Exploration in 1891
by [GREAT ZIMBABWE] BENT, J. Theodore
- Used
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Winchester, Virginia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1895. Third edition. Octavo (19cm). Maroon cloth stamped in silver; brown coated endpapers; [xxx],427,[1],24pp; 24pp publisher's catalogue inserted at rear; black and white plates. A bright copy, lightly rubbed at edges and slightly spine-sunned, a few spots of foxing, publisher's catalogue browned: Very Good.
Archaeological investigations in the Mashonaland region of Zimbabwe, including the first detailed western account of the medieval city Great Zimbabwe. His book was "enthusiastically received...but both his methods and his conclusions came in for trenchant criticism from professional archaeologists and other scholars. His amateur methods damaged sites and artefacts...His removal of the best examples of the famous soapstone birds at Great Zimbabwe has been particularly criticized. Worse than his methods was his conclusion that the sites were constructed by a northern race coming from Arabia and akin to the Phoenicians. There seems to have been no sound empirical foundation for this belief, which rested largely on the assumption that African people were too primitive to have sustained a society which...could construct such complex buildings" (ODNB).
Archaeological investigations in the Mashonaland region of Zimbabwe, including the first detailed western account of the medieval city Great Zimbabwe. His book was "enthusiastically received...but both his methods and his conclusions came in for trenchant criticism from professional archaeologists and other scholars. His amateur methods damaged sites and artefacts...His removal of the best examples of the famous soapstone birds at Great Zimbabwe has been particularly criticized. Worse than his methods was his conclusion that the sites were constructed by a northern race coming from Arabia and akin to the Phoenicians. There seems to have been no sound empirical foundation for this belief, which rested largely on the assumption that African people were too primitive to have sustained a society which...could construct such complex buildings" (ODNB).
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Lorne Bair Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 60673
- Title
- The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland Being A Record of Excavation and Exploration in 1891
- Author
- [GREAT ZIMBABWE] BENT, J. Theodore
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Longmans, Green and Co
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1895
- Bookseller catalogs
- Africa;
Terms of Sale
Lorne Bair Rare Books
All items are offered subject to prior sale. Orders must be prepaid, though billing may be arranged for institutions and customers with established credit. Payment may be made by Check, Money Order, Paypal or by valid credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover). Any item may be returned within 10 days of receipt for full refund. Signed and manuscript items carry an unlimited guarantee of authenticity.
About the Seller
Lorne Bair Rare Books
Biblio member since 2006
Winchester, Virginia
About Lorne Bair Rare Books
Lorne Bair Rare Books specializes in books, mansuscripts, and printed ephemera relating to American Social History, with an emphasis on radical and utopian movements of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. We are available in our showroom by appointment, at shows, and on-line through various booksellers' sites or at our website www.lornebair.com.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...