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Auction: 6010 - Important Stamps & Covers of the World - Washington Philatelic Exhibition Auction
Lot: 84

x Cape of Good Hope 1877 (21 July) envelope from Panmure to "Rev. Dr. Stewart, Livingstonia, Lake Nyassa, Quillimane, via Port Elizabeth" and marked "To Blantyre if necessary", rated "10" in red crayon and bearing 1876 4d. blue (4) twice cancelled "111" and with Panmure and King Williams Town c.d.s. alongside, Port Elizabeth c.d.s. (28.7) on reverse. The lot is accompanied by a Cape of Good Hope telegram from Lovedale to Quillimane announcing the departure of Dr. Stewart from Algoa Bay. A fascinating cover to this famous missionary Estimate US$ 4,000-5,000Note: James Stewart first visited Africa in 1861 when he accompanied Mary Livingstone who was rejoining her husband. He was with Livingstone when she died at Shupanga. He visited Africa again in 1866 when, with his wife, he became a missionary of the Free Church of Scotland and Lovedale. There he planned an elementary education for the many. When the Rev. William Govan retired in 1870 he became principal. Stewart insisted that all pupils should pay fees and although this was a revolutionary idea it was accepted and a general rate of £4 per annum per pupil was imposed. In 1870 Stewart began the publication of the "Kafir Express", a monthly magazine in English and Xhosa. .He attended Livingstone´s funeral in London in 1874. In 1876 Stewart travelled to Africa again, having obtained large donations to set up a mission in central Africa. In 1876 he travelled to Nyasaland and by the time he left Africa in 1877 the foundations of the Livingstonia mission at the southern end of Lake Nyassa were well and truly laid. He died in 1905. A copy of his entry from the Dictionary of Natural Biography accompanies the cover

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