Author: Zanzibar. Universities Mission to Central Africa.
Title: Mambo Ya Chuoni na Kawaida za Mafundisho.
Description: Zanzibar, printed at the Universities' Mission Press 1890. Slender octavo publisher's cloth with printed title label on the front; [8],56pp. Some words translated into English in pencil in the margins. ¶ A rare little book; the manual of school method and management for the use of native school masters and pupil teachers of the Universities' Mission. The Universities' Mission to Central Africa was a high church Anglican organisation established in 1857 within the universities and ran for over a century. The first mission, to Malawi, was a disaster and the move of headquarters to Zanzibar came in 1863. Early accounts of the mission speak often of the bustle of the printing room, it seemed the centre of mission activity, describing the Bishop when not at work in the printing room being followed about the mission by boys waving proof sheets. Many boasts are made about "mission boys" now working in government printing offices throughout central Africa. There seems to have been a level of industry way beyond what survives in libraries. The earliest publication from the press there I've traced is 1872 and titles are sparse until the late 1880s when production stepped up. None are common and no library, including the universities, seem to have a comprehensive collection. Of the four universities involved I can find a copy of this in one of their catalogues - Oxford. Further search finds one more copy, in Berlin.

Keywords: education language linguistics social sciences c19th Africa Zanzibar mission presses missionaries religion