Auction 18 Review

AntiquarianAuctions.com will hold an important sale of Africana and other books from Thursday, 23^rd April to Thursday 3^rd May. A Preview of the over 400 items listed is now available on the site where all items are fully described and illustrated.

William Cornwallis Harris’ Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals, published in 1840 is acknowledged to be one of the finest folios of African big game animals. Comprising 30 hand coloured lithographs from drawings by the author it was issued in five separate parts and later collected into one volume. Captain Harris, an officer in the Honourable East India Company’s corps of engineers, arrived in South Africa on leave in May 1831. At that time officers who took their leave at the Cape remained on full pay whilst those returning to England went onto half pay. For a sportsman and naturalist like Harris this was an ideal opportunity to undertake an extensive journey through the then little-known interior of South Africa. A good copy of the Columbier paper edition of Portraits of the Game is offered as the first item in the auction with an estimate of R100,000

Army officers were not the only visitors from India to produce fine albums of South Africa natural history subjects. Mrs Arabella Roupell, the wife of a ‘gentleman now in high service in the Civil Service of the East India Company,’ passed a pleasant period leave at the Cape at about the same time as Captain Harris and produced a fine series of paintings of the local plants. These so impressed Sir William Hooker at Kew Gardens that he arranged to have them published in a large folio publication entitled Specimens of the Flora of South Africa (1849), by a Lady. The album measuring 59 x 47 centimetres was a lavish publication for its day and was produced in a small edition – only 110 names appear in the list of subscribers the first of which is Queen Victoria. Estimate R110,000.

  

The publications of other 19^th century artists are represented such as Thomas Baines’ The Victoria Falls, Zambesi River, Thomas Bowler’s South African Sketches, A Series of Ten Most Interesting Views At the Cape of Good Hope, Captain Thomas Lucas’ Pen & Pencil Reminiscences of a Campaign in South Africa and Butler’s South African Sketches.

Among a selection of more than 50 books on South African art is copy number 12 (of 12) of the specially bound and signed edition of Irma Stern’s Congo. In May 1942 Stern travelled to the Belgian Congo which for her represented the very heart of Africa. This journey followed her successful and inspirational visit to Zanzibar in 1939. In her journal she describes the richness of the country: ‘At night the forest glows with swarming fire-flies and a buzzing and singing begins  “a dark” heaving noise of frogs; the insects sound at night like a huge orchestra. The forest is alive with animals...It is all like prehistoric days when man was still in his childhood.’  The edition published in 1943 comprised only 300 copies of which the first 12 were bound in raffia which Stern brought back with her. Estimate R95,000.

Included in a collection books on the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 are sets of the standard histories – The Times History of the War in South Africa, in seven volumes and the eight volume Official History of the War in South Africa. The latter was compiled by a team of military historians and it was not completed until several years after the war ended. Each of the four volumes of text is accompanied by a volume of detailed maps, battle plans and sketches which make it an invaluable tool for the researcher. Several regimental histories are offered including The History of Lumsen's Horse. The ‘Indian Mounted Infantry Corps’, to give it its formal name, was a volunteer contingent raised and equipped with a large donation from Colonel Lumsden himself and by hundreds of other subscriptions and ‘donations in kind’ for service in the war in South Africa. The largest ‘donation in kind’ was a gift of 50 Arab horses from the Maharajah of Bhavnagar.

With papers found after the death of Eugene Marais was a hand written manuscript of a play, ‘Nag. ‘n Drama in Vier Bedrywe.’ Written on 162 unlined pages in cloth bound exercise book, with editorial corrections and deletions throughout by Marais himself. The play was published in 1937 (the year after Marais’ death) as a ‘spiritual bequest’ by the author. The action in the play takes place during the Anglo-Boer War. Very few of Marais’ manuscripts remain in private hands. It is estimated at R87,500.

A wide variety of Africana and other subjects are represented in the auction. Visit www.antiquarianauctions.com to browse all 520 lots in the auction.

This article appeared in the Cape Argus on the 28th of April. To view a scan of the original article click on the thumbnail below.

Auction 17 Review

The on-line Africana and rare book auction site Antiquarian Auctions is running its second sale of the year this week at www.antiquarianauctions.co.za. The auction ends on Thursday, 15^th March at 6.30 pm.

This sale has attracted a number of significant items which are being sold by well-known antiquarian bookdealers from around the country and a few from abroad.

Sol T. Plaatje is perhaps the most significant black South African writer of the last century as well as being a political activist. Upon the foundation of the African National Congress in 1912 he became its first general secretary. When the 1913 ‘Natives Land Act’ was passed Plaatje wrote Native Life in South Africa which is an impassioned work of political propaganda which exposes the condition of black South Africans under the newly formed all-white government of the Union of South Africa. In this auction a copy of Native Life is offered which Plaatje specially inscribed to the head of the National Brotherhood Council in London, William Ward, who assisted Plaatje and the ANC delegation which travelled to London in 1914 to campaign against the Land Act. It is estimated at R4000.

One of the most famous religious works by the Lithuanian-American artist Ben Shahn is the limited edition of The Haggadah for Passover published by the Trianon Press in 1966. Taking advantage of the evocative text he created a unique series of illustrations which were painstakingly printed by lithography on stone with colours added by a hand stencil process. The Trianon Press under the direction of the famous printer and artist Arnold Fawcus, produced an edition limited to only 292 copies. Within this limitation 16 copies were produced on special paper with additional proofs, guide-sheets and stencils and housed in a handsome parchment-covered box. One of these very unusual copies is being offered this week and is expected to attract wide attention from collectors both locally and overseas. It is estimated to fetch R40,000.

David Goldblatt, who celebrates his eighty second birthday this year, has been called ‘the father of South African documentary photography,’ and now enjoys a world-wide reputation. In 1975 he put together a photographic essay entitled Some Afrikaners Photographed which he offered to several publishers in South Africa but none accepted the book fearing the wrath of the Nationalist Party government. Eventually Goldblatt published it privately in an edition of 1000 copies. Selecting from this book and other of his photographs Hirt & Carter, the specialist printing repro firm, produced a calendar which was given away to selected customers at Christmas time 1978. Calendars are by nature ephemeral and are not often preserved. In the current auction a complete set of the twelve leaves from the calendar is offered with each sheet specially signed by David Goldblatt. It is expected to sell for more than R40,000.

A wide variety of other books on subjects including art, botany, children’s books, military & naval history, science, medicine and technology are offered. Each item is fully described and illustrated on the site.

The entire sale may be viewed at www.antiquarianauctions.co.za but to bid buyers must register by completing a simple on-line form. For further details e-mail support@antiquarianauctions.co.za or call 021 794 0600.

Auction 16 Review

Album of wartime cartoons included in online book auction

The on-line Africana and rare book auction site, AntiquarianAuctions.co.za, sale number 16 (new series) is running this week. The auction ends on Thursday, 2^nd February, and is the first of eight sales which will be held at six-week intervals throughout the year.

Rudolf Marloth is a name likely to be familiar to anyone interested in South African botany and his magnum opus The Flora of South Africa (1913 – 1931) remains a cornerstone of botanical literature and comprises four large volumes divided into six books. Although a successful pharmacist and professor of chemistry at the Victoria College at Stellenbosch (now Stellenbosch University) he required the assistance of a wealthy patron in the form of Sir Lionel Phillips and his irrepressible wife Lady Florence to publish this work. Together they bore the entire cost of the production.  The fine colour plates by artists such as Ester Smith and Ethel May Dixie were printed in Germany whilst the text was produced in England. A commonly accepted myth has it that the plates for the first two volumes were lost in Germany due to bombing during World War I but this is not the case. In fact they survived the conflict and were sent to England after the war to Sir Lionel’s agents for safekeeping but by a cruel stroke of fate were destroyed by fire in 1926. As publication was interrupted by the War and the last two volumes (in four parts) appeared between 1925 and 1932, this meant that some sets of the six books could not be published with all the plates and a few were issued with the first two volumes without any plates at all. Whilst not for the purist collector these sets provide an opportunity for botanists to acquire working copies. Such a set, handsomely rebound by a local binder, is offered in this sale with a reserve of R3000.

During the Anglo-Boer War (1899 -1902) many Boer prisoners were exiled by the British to far-flung parts of the Empire in such places as Bermuda, St Helena, India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In these camps to counter the boredom of imprisonment many turned their talents to producing handicrafts which could be sold to raise money with which to buy tobacco and other comforts. In this auction an extraordinary album of hand painted cartoons and post cards is offered obviously produced by an artist of considerable skill in the camp at Ragama in Ceylon. Whilst the artist is unknown it seems he was intent on producing a book of satirical and anti-British cartoons which might be published in Europe after the war ended to be titled John Bull Versus Oom Paul, Karikaturen over den Transvaal Oorlog 1899 - . In all the album comprised 46 pages of cartoons and 5 of painted postcards. It is estimated at R30,000.

In the year in which the African National Congress celebrates its centenary the author Sol Plaatje deserves to be particularly remembered. Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (1876-1932), a founder member of the ANC, was one of the most gifted and versatile black South Africans of his generation. He was in the forefront of the public affairs for the greater part of his adult life as politician, writer and journalist. He devoted his many talents to one overriding cause: the struggle of African people against injustice and dispossession during the second half of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century. Mhudi, An Epic of South African Native Life a Hundred Years Ago, was the first novel in English to be written by a black South African. A copy of the first edition of the important work, published in Lovedale 1930, is offered at the comparatively modest estimate of R500.

As usual the auction offers over 400 lots from twenty antiquarian bookdealers both in South Africa and abroad on subjects from Angling and Fishing, Bushman & Rock Art, Linguistics, Modern First Editions and Photography at prices ranging from two hundred Rand to many thousands. All books are fully illustrated and described and the sellers are very willing to provide additional details to bidders if required. Likewise anyone requiring advice or valuations about books, maps & prints, documents, letters, ephemera and vintage photography may contact support@antiquarianauctions.co.za or call 021 794 0600.

Auction 15 Review

Online auction of Africana and rare books

Cape Town-based online auction site antiquarianauctions.co.za is holding it last of eight Africana and rare book auctions for the year this week. The sale ends at 6.30 pm on Thursday, 8th December.

Nineteen booksellers from around the country and abroad are offering more than 400 items on the auction, which runs on www.antiquarianauctions.co.za

Today we are used to finely printed photographic books with both colour and black and white images but in the late nineteenth century the techniques for printing photographs were in their infancy. Before about 1880 the method was to paste in or to use the technical term, lay down, photographic prints made in a photographer’s studio. The first album of South African photographs produced in this way was Sam Alexander’s Photographic Scenery of South Africa published in Syracuse, New York in 1880. It comprises 100 original photographs laid down on stiff leaves contained in an elaborately gold decorated leather album. Not much is known about Sam Alexander except that he travelled in South Africa 1880 taking a series of photographs for his album. He advertised in the Argus on April 20th, 1880, ‘S. Alexander respectfully announces to the Public of South Africa and all interested in this continent…a Photographic Album…. of its scenery and most prominent institutions. Price 5 Guineas. No money to be collected in advance.’ A copy of the scarce album is offered on the auction with an estimate of R12,500.

Following the recent travelling exhibition the work of the South African photographer Ernest Cole his work has become more familiar in the country of his birth. Cole left South Africa for exile in New York in 1966. A year later he published his seminal series of photographic essays House of Bondage. He wrote, "Three-hundred years of white supremacy in South Africa has placed us in bondage, stripped us of our dignity, robbed us of our self-esteem and surrounded us with hate." Set in the 1950s and 1960s, it is an indictment of the inhumane conditions under which black South Africans were forced to live during apartheid. The collection is seen as Cole’s single greatest achievement. He was the first photojournalist to expose to the world the stark realities of life under the apartheid regime. House of Bondage was immediately banned in South Africa and remains scarce. Life in exile treated Cole harshly and he died largely unrecognised 1990. In the auction a very unusual signed presentation copy is offered with an estimate of R8500.

For many South Africans the appreciation of local and anecdotal history started with reading the books written by Lawrence G. Green. Green, who died nearly thirty years ago, was the author of thirty three books. His first book, The Coast of Treasure, was published in 1933 and he wrote five more books which were published in England before World War II. After the war, in conjunction with the publisher Howard Timmins, he published a book a year until his death. At the times these were enormously popular with print runs of twenty thousand copies or more – huge by today’s standards. Green was a retiring character but he was also the protagonist of many aspiring writers. Perhaps the scarcest of his books is not work of travel or history but The Authors’ Post War Guide a book written to help aspiring authors to craft their books and to find publishers. A copy is offered on the auction with an estimate of R600.

For golfers two early booklets on the history of the game in South Africa are offered. There is a presentation copy of R.G.Fall’s History of Golf at the Cape, in Which is also Treated “The Origin of the Game of Golf,” Golf Stories and a Register of S.A. Clubs, published in 1918 (estimate R4000) and a book entitled Golf in South Africa, Play it in Sunshine, published in 1936 (estimate R2750).

A wide variety of other Africana and general books are being sold. All items are fully illustrated on the site. For further details e-mail support@antiqurianauctions.co.za or call 021 794 0600.


This article appeared in the Saturday Argus on the 3rd of December. To view a scan of the article click on the image below.

Auction 14 Review

The following article appeared in the Weekend Argus on October 22/23. To view a scan, click on the thumbnail below the article.

Online artbook auction this week features a varied selection of art monographs

        

Following the successful sale of South African art books on Auction 13 in September in which a copy of the special limited edition of Irma Stern’s Congo fetched R155,000 Cape Town-based AntiquarianAuctions.co.za is offering another varied selection art monographs this week.

Auction 14 runs from October 20 to 27. Included is a copy of the special de luxe edition of Johannes Meintjes’ Lyrical Work – Lieriese Werk published in Cape Town in 1948 with which is includes a note from Pieter Marincowitz who wrote the forward, estimated at R8000 but strong competition from bidders is expected. Works on a variety of other artists are for sale including van Essche, Cecil Skotnes, Lippy Lipshitz and Jean Welz.

Among a selection of books on Bushman and Rock Art are three of the special limited editions of the works of the French monk Abbé Breuil on the rock paintings of Namibia and Zimbabwe. Published in France by the famous Trianon Press under the direction of Arnold Fawcus, these books are printed by hand on specially made paper, bound in full leather and issued in editions of only thirty copies. Also for sale is a copy of Obermaeir & Kuhn’s Bushman Art, Rock Paintings of South-West Africa, based on the photographic material collected by Reinhard Maack (1930) and the first folio of the reproductions of Bushman Art by Walter Battiss published in Pretoria in the early 1940’s which is estimated to fetch R15,000.

Unusual for an auction in South Africa is series a of fine hand-made volumes by English private presses. The tradition of fine limited editions of privately printed books goes back to the eighteenth century and before but received particular impetus in the late nineteenth century from the books published at the Kelmscott Press by William Morris, the writer and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. A number of fine presses followed which produced beautiful books and included in the sale are examples from The Doves Press (Robert Browning’s Men & Women), Ashendene Press (Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queen) and the Gregynog Press (Robert Vansittart’s The Singing Caravan). Particularly interesting is a fine portfolio containing the original publisher’s mock-up and trial proofs of the Golden Cockerel Press edition of The Rubayat of Omar Khayyam which is estimated at R80,000/100,000.

The sale offers a selection of books on African big-game hunting and a number of examples of the special editions published by The Brenthurst Press including the charming production Flora Herscheliana - Sir John & Lady Herschel at the Cape 1834-1838, edited by Brian Warner and John Rourke. Sir John, son of William Herschel, the discoverer of the planet Uranus, has long been recognized as one of Britain’s great nineteenth century scientists. His accomplishments in astronomy, mathematics and physics were many, but this publication focuses on his private interest in botanical matters during his stay at the Cape from 1834 – 1838.

In all, over 400 lots are being offered in over thirty categories as varied as Golf Memorabilia, Modern First Editions and Photography.

All may be viewed on-line at www.antiquarianauctions.co.za and the bidding commences at 6.30 pm on Thursday, 20th September and concludes a week later at the same time. For further details e-mail support@antiquarianauctions.co.za or call 021 794 0600.

In the media: Rare Books to be Sold Online

This article appeared in the Business Day on Friday, 9 September 2011

In the media: Auction Number 12 Preview

This article appeared in the Business Day.