(London: Bell and Daldy, 1856).

RARE AND INTERESTING FIRST EDITION AND AN EARLY WORK BY A REKNOWN RESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA. Until 1853, when the bishoprics of Graham s Town and Natal were formed, Bishop Gray of Cape Town presided over a diocese covering approximately 250,000 square miles, which apart from Calcutta, was the largest diocese in the world. Gray was a controversial figure, still very much remembered for his involvement in two lengthy lawsuits; the first involved Mr. Long, a clergyman who disputed the Bishop s authority to summon him to a diocesan synod, and the second and perhaps most notorious case arising from his dispute with Dr. Colenso, Bishop of Natal, over issue of Kafir polygamy.
Bishop Gray conducted several visitations within his diocese, between 1848 and 1865. His 1855 tour, recorded in the present volume, occupied a period of three months and took him to Swellendam, Knysna, George and a number of other districts. Of particular interest is the appendix detailing a visit to the island of Tristan D Acunha where he found many islanders had already left the island for the United States by 1855.
The original sketches for the plates were made by Mrs. Sophia Gray, the bishop s wife, who according to Abbey is said to have acted as Diocesan Architect and to have designed several churches in South Africa. The plates were printed by means of the Baxter process by W. Dickes, one of Baxter s licensees. Item #22470

First Edition Illustrated with seven finely accomplished colour  Baxter process plates (printed in oils on an acquatint base). Small 8vo (165 x 100mm), publishers original decoratively blind-stamped blue cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine and upper cover. iv, 156 pp. A fine copy, beautifully preserved in the original cloth binding, plates in good order and bright and clean, very occasional bits of foxing at some edges. Rare in this unusually pleasing condition.