Rare 1864 Zulu Educational Book - "Inncwadi Yokubala" / "The Book of Counting" 1864

"Inncwadi Yokubala" (The Book of Counting) -Printed for the Hermannsburg Mission by the Janecke Brothers, Hanover, 1864 -Small octavo format (18.4 x 12.4 cm). Contemporary half calf -Complete: [4], 155pp -Quarter calf and black cloth binding. Spine perished with boards starting and corners bumped. Some toning to text and occasional foxing to title page but very good internally. This is a rare Hermannsburg Mission imprint produced for educational use by the Zulu people of southern Africa. The work was printed in Hanover in 1864, shortly after the establishment of the Hermannsburg Mission in Natal. The book was part of the educational and evangelical programme of the early Lutheran missions in southern Africa. The title translates as “The Book of Counting” and contains five chapters Izindatyana - “Short Stories” Izindaba Zezwe - “News of the World” Izinshumayelo Ezimbili - “Two Sermons” Izindaba Zase Natal - “News from Natal” Izindaba ZamaZulu - “Stories of the Zulu People” The Hermannsburg Mission was founded in 1849 by the Lutheran pastor Louis Harms (1808–1865). Originally intended to support missionary work in Ethiopia, the mission instead established itself in Natal from 1854, where its missionaries worked amongst the Zulu population. The Hermannsburg missionaries would expand into the Transvaal and beyond, becoming one of the most influential Protestant missionary societies in southern Africa. Rare with OCLC recording only one institutional copy at the New York Public Library.