MODUPE, Prince. I Was a Savage.

(London): Museum Press, 1958. First UK edition. Hardcover. 22.2cm by 13.5cm. 168 pages. Foreword by Elspeth Huxley. Extraordinary autobiographical account by Prince Modupe describing his childhood in a traditional Yoruba community in West Africa and his eventual journey to Europe and the United States. The volume combines personal narrative, cultural description, oral history, and anthropological observation in recounting initiation rites, religious beliefs, family structures, warfare, slavery, colonial encounter, and everyday village life. The book occupies a complex position between autobiography, and ethnography, simultaneously challenging and reproducing contemporary Western ideas about Africa and “civilisation.” Rich in descriptions of Yoruba customs, spiritual practices, folklore, and social organisation. Illustrated with drawings and a map by Rosemary Grimble. A very good copy, very slightly leaned, in a very good dust jacket.