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Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming Books

Roualeyn George Gordon-Cumming (1820 - 1866) was a Scottish traveller and sportsman, known as the 'lion hunter'. After a military career, he hunted in Africa mainly for meat, skins and ivory for himself, mostly in Bechuanaland and the valley of the Limpopo River.

Gordon-Cumming was often accused of being economical with the truth in his hunting accounts and the astonishing numbers of big game he claimed to have taken. This is hardly surprising given the lurid nature of the illustrations in his books and flowery prose. Like many of the early African hunters, Gordon-Cumming came across David Livingstone in his travels, who wrote, "I have no hesitation in saying that Mr. Cumming's book conveys a truthful idea of South African hunting" as an authoritive response to the doubting public at home.

He mainly used four doubles made by Dickson, Purdey, Moore and Westley Richards with a very small powder charge. Hence his descriptions of routinely putting 40+ balls into an elephant before it died. His favourite weapon was the 10 bore, 2 groove Dickson until it burst causing him great lament.

"You must understand that the greatest difficulty to a good hunter in Elephant hunting is to find them, and then one man can kill one Elephant in the troop, and not more, especially if they be bulls, for bulls separate the instant they are attacked, and the fight generally lasts from 10 minutes to an hour, according to the denseness of the first or the savageness of the Elephants; one bull this year took 57 bullets before he fell…" Roualeyn Gordon Cumming (from a letter)

Gordon-Cumming survived all his extraodinary African hunting escapades only to died at the age of 46 of a bad chill after swimming in a cold Scottish loch. The American showman, P T Barnum bought Gordon-Cumming's large trophy collection which was lost when his American Museum burned to the ground.

Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming
Roualeyn George Gordon-Cumming

Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming
Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming Illustration

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Technically Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming only wrote one book. All his 'other' books are adaptations, partial reproductions and reprints of the original 2 volumes of 'Five Years Of A Hunter's Life In The Far Interior Of South Africa'. That in itself adds more confusion with spine titles differing from the title page, various first editions of the same book with different spine titles and cover designs from the same British publisher, let alone the US publisher. Also his last names may or may not be found hypenated.

As an example, 'Five Years Of A Hunter's Life In The Far Interior Of South Africa' was first published in 1850, followed by 8 further editions (including a 'popular' edition and several reprints of all these editions, through to 1909.

Five Years Of A Hunter's Life In The Far Interior Of South Africa

Five Years Of A Hunter's Life In The Far Interior Of South Africa by Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming (1850)...'With notices of the native tribes, and anecdotes of the chase of the lion, elephant, hippopotamus, giraffe, rhinoceros, etc.' 2 Volumes. After several years in the military, the author devoted his life to hunting. On his return to England he took with him thirty tons of trophies. This book is a classic of African big game hunting and exploration that recounts the seemingly limitless herds of game in the region of Cumming's era. Vol I Free eBook Vol II Free eBook


Five Years Hunting Adventures In South Africa

Five Years Hunting Adventures In South Africa by Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming (1892)...'being an account of sport with lion, elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros, camelopard, ostrich, hippopotamus, wildebeast, koodoo, hyaena, etc., etc.' This is the same book about of his adventures hunting in the "untrodden wilds" of South Africa, as 'Five Years Of A Hunter's Life In The Far Interior Of South Africa' but condensed into a single volume from a different publisher. From the introduction, Gordon-Cumming says..."I was the first to penetrate into the interior of the Bamangwato country, and that my axe and spade pioneered the way, which others have since followed". Free eBook


A Hunter's Life Among Lions, Elephants, And Other Wild Animals Of South Africa

A Hunter's Life Among Lions, Elephants, And Other Wild Animals Of South Africa by Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming (1850). This is the same book about of his adventures hunting in the "untrodden wilds" of South Africa, as 'Five Years Of A Hunter's Life In The Far Interior Of South Africa'and 'Five Years Hunting Adventures In South Africa' condensed into a single volume. Free eBook


Thrilling Adventures In The Forest And On The Frontier

Thrilling Adventures In The Forest And On The Frontier by 'An Old Hunter' (?1845,?1888) is a strange selection of Gordon-Cumming adventures under the authorship/editorship of 'An Old Hunter'. The book gives a brief description of Gordon-Cumming's life at the beginning each chapter of adventure, then uses Gordon-Cumming's own words to describe the adventure. The book continues with more adventures from a Mr Butler, Robert & Samuel M'Afee on the frontier in America, others in China and kangaroo hunting in Australia. This book is said to have been written by Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming but it is not clear that this is true. Free eBook


The Lion Hunter: In The Days When All South Africa Was Virgin Hunting Field by Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming & edited by Horace Kephart (1915). Published years after the death of Gordon-Cumming, Kephart selected the best parts of the two volumes of 'Five Years Of A Hunter's Life In The Far Interior Of South Africa' and without changing the text, offered an abridged vesion under the title 'The Lion Hunter'. He asks the reader to make 'allowances' for the 'time and environment that Gordon-Cumming was trained', ie. that his hunting was 'unsportsmanlike and brutal' by the standards of the early 1900s. Free eBook



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Page Updated: Aug 2020


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