The Rock-Engravings of Griqualand West & Bechuanaland by Maria Wilman (1968)

This is the 1968 second edition of Maria Wilman’s landmark work, The Rock-Engravings of Griqualand West & Bechuanaland, South Africa, published by A.A. Balkema in Cape Town.

A Pioneering Work by South Africa's First Female Museum Director

Maria Wilman (1867–1957) was a towering figure in South African natural and social history. She was the second South African woman to attend the University of Cambridge (completing her Natural Science Tripos in 1888). In 1908, she was appointed the first Director of the Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum in Kimberley—making her the first female museum director in South Africa.

A 30-Year Labor of Love

The book was the culmination of nearly three decades of painstaking fieldwork. Wilman began amassing data, photographs, and rubbings of local rock art as early as 1906, traveling extensively by cart and on foot across the Northern Cape and into what is now Botswana.

When the first edition was published in Cambridge in 1933, it instantly became the definitive, standard text on South African rock engravings. It remained the uncontested authority on the subject for more than four decades.

The Cambridge Degree Irony

Though Wilman finished her studies at Cambridge in 1888 and her botanical work in 1895, the university did not actually confer formal degrees upon women at the time. It wasn't until November 1931—just as she was finalizing the manuscript for the first edition of this very book—that Cambridge finally awarded her her official Master of Arts degree.

The 1968 Balkema Edition

This copy is the 1968 reprint published by A.A. Balkema. Balkema was an influential Dutch bookseller and publisher who moved to Cape Town after World War II. He became renowned for elevating the standard of South African publishing, producing beautifully bound, high-quality academic and historical texts. This edition introduced Wilman's vital archaeological documentation to a new generation of post-war researchers.

245mm x 305mm x 30mm

Dust jacket chipped and worn at the edges.

R1,250