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Pauling, George : The Chronicles of a Contractor. Being the Autobiography of the Late George Pauling

(London: Constable, 1926)

Edited by David Buchan, with an introduction by J. O. P. Bland. Demy 8vo; original blue cloth, lettered in gilt on spine; t.e.g.; pp. xii + 240; frontis. portrait. Inscription to front free endpaper. Boards a little rubbed, with light wear to extremities; scattered, moderate foxing. Good condition. The first edition of this work has always been hard to find. In his introduction to the 1969 reprint, publisher L. W. Bolze states that "only 800 copies of the original edition of The Chronicles of a Contractor are believed to have been published for private circulation." A pioneering railway engineer in southern Africa, Pauling was responsible for the construction of many of the lines that helped to open up this part of the continent. His firm completed the first railway between Port Alfred and Grahamstown as early as 1884, but it is probably for the building of the Beira-Umtali line that he is best known. "His strong, colourful personality was coupled with exceptional vitality and a remarkable capacity for work. These qualities, together with his sharp business instinct, enabled him to amass great wealth which he liked to share with others ... " - DSAB II, p. 536.

PAULING, George (Edited By David BUCHAN) : The Chronicles of a Contractor, Being the Autobiography of the Late George Pauling

Constable & Company Ltd, 1926

First Edition. A very good copy in the original red cloth, 3 inch external split to front hinge, light fading to spine.

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