Africanderisms. A Glossary of South African Colloquial Words and Phrases and of Place and Other Names

(London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1913). Demy 8vo; original green cloth, with upper cover lettered in blind, and spine gilt-lettered; pp. xviii + 579. Cloth rather stippled, and spine browned; penned quotation from Goethe to front free endpaper; rather foxed and somewhat browned throughout; damp-stain to fore-edge. Fair condition. (SABIB 3, p. 661) Concerning Charles Pettman (1851-1935) and this, his first published book, we read in the first volume of the 'Dictionary of South African Biography': "Travelling in the Windsor Castle to take up an appointment in the Cape Colony, he was shipwrecked on Dassen Island on 19.10.1876, one of his fellow passengers being Sir Theophilus Shepstone, then on a mission to the Transvaal which was to end in British annexation. After a brief stay in Cape Town Pettman continued his journey to Panmure (as it was then called), on the east bank of the Buffalo river, opposite the settlement of East London. The first Methodist minister appointed in the East London area, he spent three years laying the foundations of his pastoral work during the unsettled time of the Ninth Frontier War (1877-78). During this war and in the Second Anglo-Boer War, he was a chaplain. ... He was a good German and Xhosa scholar and had scientific interests, especially in natural history. He was a regular contributor to the East London Dispatch (1902-12), writing on insects in the series 'Nature Notes' under the nom-de-plume of 'Umfuni'; he also wrote frequently for the Queenstown Daily Representative and The Friend, of Bloemfontein. The knowledge of the names of places, flora and fauna which Pettman garnered in pursuing his interest in natural history, and his knowledge of South African vernaculars are reflected in his publications. His first published work, 'Africanderisms: A glossary of South African colloquial words and phrases and of place and other names' (London, 1913), was a pioneering effort in which he entered an uncharted field of etymological research into the origins of words and expressions peculiar to South Africa. His first study ... was the fruit of constant observation since the time that he landed in Cape Town in October 1876 and began jotting down 'strange words that fell upon his ear'." - DSAB I, pp. 611-12 .