DEBORAH SHAPPLE SPILLMAN is assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Oregon, USA.

• List of Illustrations Preface Introduction: Reading Colonial Realism Taking Objects for Origins: Victorian Ethnography and Heart of Darkness The Uncanny Object Lessons of Mary Kingsley and Edward Blyden Realism and Realia in Colonial Southern Africa Artful Tales and Indigenous Arts in The Story of an African Farm Coda Notes Bibliography Index