Tutuola (Amos) Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle

London, Faber & Faber, 1955.

First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth, spine gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6.

A departure from the Nigerian author’s previously preferred first person narrative, Tutuola’s Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle was his third book, an imaginative tale with a theme of slavery that runs through it. The main gift inscription here is interesting, written by one ‘David’, asking “Does this represent the beginning of a West African literature?”.