Christchurch, Printed And Published By James Willis, 1885, 234pp, original wrappers with gilt lettering and the first board, slightly rubbed, few marginal tears to three leaves, without loss or affecting the text, little foxing, little marks. illustrated including frontispiece portrait of Gordon, folding linen backed map, 7 portraits and illustrations in the text
First New Zealand edition of this contemporary account of General Charles George Gordon and the events surrounding the siege and fall of Khartoum. Published in Christchurch in the very year of Gordon’s death, the book was produced for a colonial readership at a moment of extraordinary public interest in the Sudan campaign. Gordon’s refusal to abandon Khartoum and his death during its fall were widely portrayed as the ultimate sacrifice of duty and honour. His death transformed him almost immediately into one of the great heroic figures of Victorian Britain and the British Empire. The book reflects this contemporary cult of Gordon and the ideal of military duty that it embodied. Ch-3A