S. W. Koelle. Polygotta Africana; or, a Comparative Vocabulary of Nearly Three Hundred Words and Phrases, in More ...

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Early Vocabulary of West African Languages

S. W. Koelle. Polygotta Africana; or, a Comparative Vocabulary of Nearly Three Hundred Words and Phrases, in More than One Hundred Distinct African Languages. London: Church Missionary House, 1954.

First edition. Folio. 24, 188 pages. Errata slip. Large folding map by Augustus Petermann.

Recased with original embossed cloth over boards. Gilt lettering to top boards. Gilt lettering to spine. Mild smudging to corners of preliminary pages. Moderate foxing. Some marginal notes in pencil from a contemporary hand. Bookplate of previous owner.

"The Rev. Dr. S. W. Koelle, who was a C.M.S. [Church Missionary Service] missionary at Sierra Leone from 1847 to 1853 (as well as for many years afterwards at Constantinople), compiled a remarkable work, 'Polyglotta Africana,' containing brief comparative vocabularies of no less than 200 languages and dialects which he found spoken by the liberated slaves at Sierra Leone" (C.M.S.). From the Professor John Ralph Willis Collection of Rare Africana.

C.M.S., The Church Missionary Atlas, 30.