[AFRICA - SOUTHERN] Original Carte-de-Visite Albumen Portrait Photo of a Notable Christian Missionary and Bible Translator in Southern Africa, Robert Moffat

[MOFFAT, Robert, Missionary] (1795-1883); MAULL & CO., PHOTOGRAPHER.

Maull & Co., Photographer, [ca. 1860s]. 

Original albumen photo ca. 9x6 cm (3 ½ x 2 ¼ in), mounted on the original card ca. 10,5x6,5 cm (4 x 2 ½ in). Studio’s printed credentials on the lower margin and on verso. Period pencil note “Dr. Moffat” on verso. Photo slightly faded, but overall, very good.

An attractive, well-preserved original carte-de-visite albumen photograph portrait of a pioneer Christian missionary and linguist in southern Africa, Robert Moffat, who was also the father-in-law of the famous African explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873). For over sixty years (1817-1870), Moffat served in the British colonies in South Africa (mostly in the Kuruman missionary station, which he founded in 1821), taking missionary trips to Bechuanaland (Botswana), Southwest Africa (Namibia) and Matabeleland (Zimbabwe). The portrait was taken in the studio of a pioneer art photographer and famous London producer of carte-de-visite photo portraits, John Jabez Edwin Paisley Mayall (1813-1901).

“With little training, Moffat was assigned in 1816 by the London Missionary Society to go to South Africa. After spending seven years in several locations that were disrupted by warfare among Zulu tribesmen, he settled at Kuruman, southeast of the Kalahari (desert). There he lived for 49 years, building one of the foremost Protestant missionary communities in Africa. He traveled widely, and he encountered numerous tribes and mastered the Tswana language, into which he translated the “Gospel According to Luke” (1830). Through his influence the number of converts rose rapidly, and by 1857 he had completed a Tswana translation of the entire Bible. In 1838 he wrote “A Book of Hymns in Chuana” (Tswana). Though criticized by some as paternalistic, he laboured not only to alter the conduct but also to raise the standard of living of African peoples by introducing improved methods of agriculture and irrigation. On his first meeting with Livingstone, in 1840, Moffat recognized Livingstone’s capacities and urged him to come to Africa, directing him to the region north of the Kalahari. After the death of his wife, Mary, with whom he shared his work for half a century, Moffat lived his remaining 13 years in retirement in England” (Encyclopedia Britannica).