Colenso Letters from Natal by Wyn Rees (1958) Deluxe edition

Arranged and commented on by Wyn Rees, who was a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Natal.
Published in 1958 by the prominent Pietermaritzburg publisher Shuter and Shooter, this volume holds a highly compelling place in South African ecclesiastical and social history.

Deluxe edition. #27 out of 100.

These letters were not written by Bishop John William Colenso himself. Instead, they comprise approximately 300 private letters written between 1865 and 1893 by his wife, Frances Colenso (née Bunyon). Because they were private family correspondences, they provide an incredibly raw, unfiltered, and deeply human window into the turbulent colonial politics of 19th-century Natal, stripped of official Victorian diplomatic filters.

A Front-Row Seat to Ecclesiastical Rebellion

The timeline of these letters (1865–1893) perfectly maps over one of the greatest scandals in Anglican Church history: The Colenso Controversy. Bishop John Colenso was a brilliant mathematician and a radical theologian. When he published criticisms of the literal truth of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) and strongly defended the Zulu people against colonial exploitation, he was officially excommunicated and denounced as a heretic by the Bishop of Cape Town.

Frances’s letters capture the intense, daily siege mentality of the Colenso family as they defied the Church of England, fought landmark legal battles to retain their property, and navigated being social outcasts among the white colonial elite in Pietermaritzburg.

While Shuter and Shooter printed a standard trade edition of this book for libraries and academics in 1958, this book is number 27 of a limited edition of only 100 copies.

160mm x 220mm x 40mm

Minor fishmothing to the boards; some wear to the top and bottom of the spine.

R1,000