Visitors' book kept by the Wilson family of Sheffield, 1890s-1940s
4to, red cloth binding, containing approx. 100 varicoloured leaves, filled with autograph entries mainly from missionaries (British and native) on the occasion of visits to Sheffield, including their name, date of visit, place of service, and a message, often in both English and the relevant native language, the book containing several thousand entries in total, including: Yung-King Yen (1838-1898), American Episcopal missionary in Shanghai (1894), his message comprising a translation of Thessalonians into Chinese and his signature in Chinese and English, with a pasted-in portrait photograph and his Chinese visiting card on red paper); James Chalmers (1841-1901), Tamate, New Guinea (1895), eventual cannibalism victim, his message including John 3:16 in English and a native language; Bathoen I (c.1845-1910), Sebele I (d.1911) and Khama III (c.1837-1923), respectively chiefs of the Bangwaketse, Kwena and Bangwata peoples of Bechuanaland (Botswana), on the occasion of their 1895 tour of England to gain support against the proposed annexation of their lands by Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company; Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-c.1929), Sikh-born Christian missionary, his message comprising Ephesians 6:18 in English and Urdu, dated, 1920, with full-page photographic portrait mounted to facing page; William Booth (1829-1903), general of the Salvation Army (1893); and numerous others, including Arthur Bonsey (1858-1942), Hankow, Amy Easter Brockway, Ambositra, Madagascar, 1897 (her message including John 14:1 in Malagasy), John Knox, Vizagapatam, 1897, including John 4:2 in Telugu, Samuel Lavington Hart, principal of the Anglo-Chinese College, Tientsin, 1900, Ebenezer and Blanche Cooper, Samoa, 1901, James Duthie (1833-1908), Travancore, 1902, Ruth Massey, Wuchang, 1902, in Chinese and English, Lillie E. V. Saville, Peking, 1904, in Chinese and English, James and Annie Sharman, Antananarivo, 1906, and similar, including missionaries operative in numerous locations across Africa, India, Burma, China and elsewhere. A few leaves torn in gutter, 2 leaves (1910 and 1922) loose
Provenance: By descent to David R. Wilson (1926-2020), bookseller and ornithologist (obituary: British Birds, vol. 113, issue 9, pp. 560–⁠561).