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DateOriginal Topic
19th August 2005'The Tale of Isandhlwana' by Rider Haggard
By Paul Cubbin
This is question that has been asked within one of the other topics, but one that I think deserves a little more attention to get a better range of answers, has anyone read the above title and what is it like? Haggard was meant to be an associate of Durnford's and supposedly analysed his actions in his book, but I've never seen, let alone read it so I'm curious as to how it compares to better known publications.
DateReplies
19th August 2005Julian Whybra
Haggard was a good friend of Essex. His description of the battle relies heavily on conversations he had with him. It makes good reading
19th August 2005Coll
Julian

Is it an actual 'book' or a 'booklet' covering the battle ?

Also, are there any books or booklets that you can compare it to, in order to give an idea of it's contents ?

Thankyou

Coll
20th August 2005John Young
Coll,

It is an article which appeared in 'The True Story Book' edited by Andrew Lang, published by Longmans in 1893. I should have it on a disc somewhere, I'll try and hunt it out over the next week, then you can make your mind up. Suffice to say Haggard was a friend of Durnford's.

John Y.
20th August 2005Michael Boyle
For anyone interested in reading about Sir H. the complete text of -

THE DAYS OF MY LIFE

VOLUME I

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

BY

SIR H. RIDER HAGGARD

can be found at:

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300131.txt

For another interesting take on Isandlwana novelization try the full text of -

THE YOUNG COLONISTS:
A story of the Zulu and
Boer Wars
by G.A. Henty

can be found at :

http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/hentymen.htm#young

Best

Michael
22nd August 2005Julian whybra
Coll, John has beaten me to it in his reply - i would have added nothing further.
22nd August 2005Coll
John

Thankyou very much.

By the way Paul. Excellent idea to start a new topic enquiring about the book. It never crossed my mind to do that when I saw the title mentioned in a previous discussion.

Thanks again

Coll
23rd August 2005Stephen Coan
The Anglo-Zulu War features in several works by H. Rider Haggard. His first book, Cetywayo and His White Neighbours (1882), a work of non-fiction, was an examination of British relations with the Zulus and the Boers prior to the war. As already mentioned he wrote a factual account of the battle of Isandlawana for Andrew Lang's The True Story Book. The battle of Isandlwana features three times in Haggard's fiction, in The Witch's Head (1884), Black Heart and White Heart (1896) and Finished (1917), the final volume of Haggard's trilogy dealing with the history of the Zulus in the nineteenth century. (Marie (1912) and Child of Storm (1913) being the other two). Haggard's own reminiscences of his life in South Africa at the time of the war can be found in his autobiography The Days of My Life (1926). Haggard visited the Anglo-Zulu War battlefields in 1914. An account of his visit to Isandlwana can be found in Diary of an African Journey (2000).