Also on the title page: " Being the First Part of the Original Volume Entitled 'Coomassie and Magdala' With numerous illustrations from drawings by Melton Prior (special artist in Ashantee of the "Illustrated London news") and other artists, and two maps." 212 pages. The front hinge is partially exposed where the paper cover has split and thereis an ownership inscription on the front end paper; The hinges on pages 64 and 96 cracked, but the binding remains solid. Not so solid is the binding from page 33 to page 48. The cracked spines on either end have made that section loose. This is its major fault. A clean and unmarked copy, better than good only but not quite very good.. "The Anglo-Ashanti Wars were a series of five 19th-century conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900, between the Ashanti Empire - in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast - and the British Empire and its allies. The wars were mainly due to Ashanti attempts to establish a stronghold over the coastal areas of present-day Ghana. Coastal peoples such as the Fante and the Ga came to rely on British protection against Ashanti incursions.....The Third Anglo-Ashanti War, also known as the "First Ashanti Expedition", lasted from 1873 to 1874. In 1869, a German missionary family and a Swiss missionary had been taken from Togo to Kumasi. They were still being held in 1873.[7] The British Gold Coast was formally established in 1867 and in 1872, Britain expanded their territory when they purchased the Dutch Gold Coast from the Dutch, including Elmina which was claimed by the Ashanti. The Dutch had signed the Treaty of Butre in 1656 with the Ahanta. The treaty's arrangements proved very stable and regulated Dutch-Ahanta diplomatic affairs for more than 213 years. This all changed with the sale of the Dutch Gold Coast. The Ashanti invaded the new British protectorate. General Garnet Wolseley was sent against the Ashanti with 2,500 British troops and several thousand West Indian and African troops (including some Fante) and subsequently became a household name in Britain. The war was covered by war correspondents, including Henry Morton Stanley and G. A. Henty. Military and medical instructions were printed for the troops.[8] The British government refused appeals to interfere with British arms manufacturers who sold to both sides." (Wikipedia)