Taveta Chronicle 1895-1901

TAVETA CHRONICLES - 1895 - 1901 - This is a photographic copy of a bound set of the Taveta Chronicles owned by Verbi, it shows all the signs of aging and imperfect printing process it includes: - total 25 issues, 280 Pages and end photographs of the end papers and binding ( for the cover) - This early newspaper was Printed at CMS Mahoo, Taveta, East Africa, (Kenya) Covering the following areas, Taveta, Teita, and Chagga areas mentioning Mahoo, Lake Jipe, Kilimanjaro, Voi, Teita, Sagalla, Freretown, Mombasa. Like any newspaper the Taveta Chronicles includes articles which are locally (to Taveta) focused as well as wider subjects of interest for the readership, Most of the articles in English and a few are in local languages, Supplements in local languages including Tavata, Chagga and Masaai: Common Subjects include: - Notes on the establishment of the CMS mission, - news about Mission Life in Taveta, finance and management - details of local people attending the Church, births, deaths, marriage, baptism and census - profiles of individuals - including ex-slaves - Mahoo Boarding School and Local teachers, sports days, boys' song - notes on European visitors passing through Taveta - usually en route to Kilimanjaro or on Hunting trips. - "fragments of local history' and traditions of Taveta, Taita and Chagga areas, native government, local chiefs - Geography, - Politics history of East Africa - colonial management of locals, management of rebellions, introduction of taxation - progress of the Uganda Railway - Safari's and lion encounters, game preservation, natural history - Agriculture - Murder of Missionaries - Stories, Fiction, with local subjects, - Celebrations - Christmas, weddings, Queen Victoria's jubilee, Harvest, - Articles for children, young readers - Adverts - weather, failure of rains HISTORY OF THIS BOOK This book contains a full set of East Africa’s first periodical, The Taveta Chronicle, 1895-1901. Due to the fragile condition of the original book each page was photographed, rather than scanned. This technique has resulted in some distortion, but gives a feeling of the original pages, which are slightly smaller than this volume. It was the personal copy of Rev. Vladimir V. Verbi, O.B.E. (1873-1956). His pencil marks and initials ‘V.V.V.’ highlight his appearances in the text. Verbi, an Anglicised Bulgarian, arrived in East Africa in 1894. He initially volunteered as a pioneering jack-of-all-trades missionary at CMS Mahoo, Taveta, with Rev. A.R. Steggall, of Consett. There the Chronicles were produced by Steggall with Verbi and Yohana Nene, a young local man, doing the printing. Verbi bound and preserved his copies, but Nene’s were lost when he was interred in WW1. There are thought to be only 6 full copies world wide. Verbi quickly became so well known his address in the early days was simply, V.V.V., East Africa. In retirement Verbi gave his Taveta Chronicles to Mark Bostock, son on of his nearest European neighbour Rev. Peter Bostock. Bostock was a Missionary at Wusi 1937-44 and wrote a short ethnography, The Taita, which was first printed in 1950. Verbi also gave Rev Bostock photos to of the start of the CMS Mission at Wusi, Taita which Verbi had established in 1905. These were first published in 2024 in Wadawida: Writings on the Customs of The Taita, including Bostock’s The Taita. Mark tried to get the Taveta Chronicles into wider circulation in the 1980/90s. In 2023 he released them his niece Helen Averley to digitise. On Mark’s instruction in August 2023, she donated them to the CMS Archives c/o Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. Photography and Book Design by Helen Averley © 2025, averley.co All Commercial E-Publishing and Print Rights Reserved © 2025 ISBN 978-0-9956903-3-2 Madame la Bonche Publishing