I would like to find a copy of “Swahili Church History” by Robertson,
which was published by the London Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, Northumberland Avenue, Charing Cross, W.C., in 1886.  The
caveat here is that “Swahili Church History” might not be the actual
title of the book; I have looked for it myself under this title, but
to no avail.  I also do not know Robertson’s first name.  I found this
reference in an 1887 letter from Carl Büttner, an instructor of
African languages in Berlin, to Eduard Sachau, who was the director of
the institute for which Büttner taught.  I have seen no other
references to the book.

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Request for Question Clarification by rapidreference-ga on 09 Aug 2002 11:42 PDT

Could the book be about general christian church history, but with
swahili text? I'm finding a book by a Robertson from 1887, in swahili,
and published by the publisher you mention.

rapidreference-ga

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Clarification of Question by portobello-ga on 09 Aug 2002 14:05 PDT

This indeed seems likely and would make sense within context.  The
dates don't match exactly, but that might not be relevant, and I was
wondering myself whether the book was in Swahili or English.  Can you
supply me with the title and where I can find the book?  If so, I
believe you've likely answered my question.

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 09 Aug 2002 15:44 PDT

Are you interested only in the Swahili translation of this book? As
rapidreference mentions, Robertson's book is a general history of the
Christian church. Would you be interested in an English-only version?

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Clarification of Question by portobello-ga on 09 Aug 2002 18:10 PDT

If possible, I would like to look at both the English and Swahili
versions.  Further, if you or someone else can find it out, I would be
curious to know whether Robertson translated the book himself, or if
someone else translated it.

Hello.

Both the Library of Congress [ http://www.loc.gov ] and the British
Library in London [ http://blpc.bl.uk/ ] have copies of the Swahili
version of the book.

I retrieved the following listing from the Library of Congress online
catalog [ http://catalog.loc.gov ] :

LC Control Number:  46029439
Author: Robertson, James Craigie, 1813-1882. 
Title: Kitabu kidogo cha mambo yaliyolipata kanisa la muungu. Katika
miaka sita mia tangu mwanzo wake.
Uniform Title: Sketches of church history
Published/Created: London, Society for promoting Christian knowledge,
1886.Related Titles: Swahili church history.
Description: viii, 121, [1] p. front. (map) 19 cm
CALL NUMBER: PL8704 .R6

I checked numerous online bookstores and I couldn't locate the Swahili
version of the book for sale.

However, the Library of Congress provides photocopying services and
can make a duplicate of their copy for you. For more information,
visit:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/preserv/pds/faq.html

The English version of Robertson's "Sketches of Church History" is
available free online, courtesy of Christian Classics Ethereal
Library:
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson/history/church-history.txt

It's unclear whether Robertson translated his book into Swahili
himself, but it seems rather unlikely. There's also a Ganda (another
Bantu language) translation available at the British Library. For that
version, a couple of translators (Henry Wright Duta Kitakule and Frank
Rowling) are credited.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your research.

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 09 Aug 2002 20:24 PDT

search strategy: Library of Congress catalog, Robertson, church, Swahili

This is an excellent answer, as I received even more information than
I asked for, in other words I found out that the Robertson book was
translated into Ganda as well as Swahili.  By the by, I checked out a
couple of other library sites, and found out that it was also
translated into Nyanja.  I was also surprised to see that there are so
many more copies of the Ganda translation than the Swahili out there,
as it shows up in a lot more catalogues.