About the Book :

This book, running into four volumes, presents a panorama of over 425 wonders of the earth, made both by man and nature, covering the five continents of Asia, Australia, Africa, America and Europe. It presents a popular and authentic account of such a vast diversity of places, encompassing their history, physical features, climates and religion-cultural heritage. One of the unique features of this multivolume set is that it contains 28 colour plates and 976 reproductions in black and white, including many unique and rare photographs.

About Author :

Sir Henry (Harry) Hamilton Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., Her Majesty Queen Victoria's first Commissioner and Consul General to British Central Africa, was born on June 12, 1858 at London. As a student at Kings College, he excelled in languages and art. He spoke over 30 African languages with varying degrees of fluency, in addition to Arabic, Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese. His 1359 page, two volume linguistic tour de force A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE BANTU AND SEMI-BANTU LANGUAGES (Oxford: Clarendon 1919 & 1922) has not been surpassed. He discovered and thoroughly documented more than 100 new birds, reptiles, mammals and insects. Johnston wrote over 60 books, including "Great Epics" such as THE RIVER CONGO (Lon: Sampson et al 1884), THE KILEMA-NJARO EXPEDITION (Lon: Kegan Paul 1886), BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA (Lon: Methuen 1897), THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE (2 vol.) (Lon: Hutchinson 1902), LIBERIA (2 vol.) (Lon: Hutchinson 1906) and GEORGE GRENFELL AND THE CONGO (2 vol. (Lon: Hutchinson 1908). He also published over 600 monographs, articles and contributions of note. Sir Harry Johnston passed away at Woodsetts House, near Worksop in Nottinghamshire, on August 31, 1927, at the age of 69.

John Thomson FRGS (1837-1921), who was also a member of PSS, travelled with his camera in Africa and photographed London street life. His work has featured in exhibitions in the 1990s at National Library of Scotland and Royal Scottish Academy - Light from the Dark Room. But at no time did he run a professional photography business in Edinburgh.