In Search Of South Africa

In Search of South Africa (1948) – H.V. Morton (Methuen)
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Dust off your pith helmet and prepare for a post-war ramble through the Union of South Africa as only H.V. Morton could deliver — with charm, curiosity, and a good dose of imperial-era blinkers. First published in 1948, In Search of South Africa captures the country at a pivotal moment in its tangled history, just as apartheid was tightening its grip. Morton does his best to be open-minded (for 1948), but this is very much the genteel travelogue of an Englishman abroad — complete with quaint observations, cultural generalisations, and a fondness for the railway timetable.

This edition from Methuen is as battered as the empire it once belonged to — scuffed cover, yellowed pages, the odd pencil note from a long-dead reader who may or may not have agreed with Morton’s opinions. Perfect for fans of vintage travel writing, colonial nostalgia, or anyone who wants to see South Africa through a typewriter tinted with pipe smoke.

Crappy, yes. But in that good, time-warp kind of way.

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