Trans-African Highways: A Route Book of the Main Trunk Roads of Africa (First Edition) by The Automobile Association of South Africa

Trans-African Highways: A Route Book of the Main Trunk Roads of Africa was compiled and published by the Automobile Association of South Africa and printed for the Association by Peninsula Press Limited, Cape Town. This is the first edition of 1949, bound in navy cloth with the AA badge and title in gilt on the front board.

Produced in the years after the Second World War, when new and improved roads were opening up the continent to motor travel, Trans-African Highways was intended as a practical guide for motorists driving the long routes through Africa. All the maps and sketch maps were compiled and drawn by the AA itself, and the book is introduced by a foreword. The large folding map is still present in its pocket inside the rear board.

Guides like Trans-African Highways are now valued as records of overland travel in Africa in the late colonial era, showing the routes, distances and conditions faced by early long-distance motorists. This copy has a nice period touch: a previous owner from Durban has pencilled route distances for Beit Bridge to Lusaka via Salisbury and via Livingstone on the map pocket.

Trans-African Highways will appeal to collectors of Africana and early motoring literature, overland travellers and 4×4 enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the history of travel and road building in Africa.

Condition – Good

A good copy of the first edition, without dust jacket. The navy cloth boards are rubbed, with some marks and wear to the corners and spine ends, but the gilt AA badge and title remain clear. There is heavy foxing to the endpapers and preliminary pages, and the page edges are toned and spotted. The folding map is present in the rear pocket, which is toned. A previous owner’s signature, dated Durban 8/5/50, appears on the front free endpaper, and there are pencilled route notes on the rear pocket. The binding is sound.