Limited edition de luxe edition contains an original woodcut by Cecil Skotnes and is no. 84 out of 250 copies.

Published in by McGraw-Hill Johannesburg, 1974.

By Mhlangane Dingane and Mbopa on 22 September 1828 at Dukuza by which act The Zulu Nation first lost its Empire.

43 Woodcuts by Cecil Skotnes. Text by Stephen Gray.

Some preliminary foxing.

246mm x 356mm

R6,500

The Assassination of Shaka, is a famous mid-1970s collaborative "block book" featuring 43 color woodcuts by renowned South African artist Cecil Skotnes (1926–2009) and original poetic text by scholar and writer Stephen Gray (1941–2020). It was published in book form in 1974 by McGraw-Hill, Johannesburg.

1. From Fine-Art Print Portfolio to Trade Book

The work originated as an elite fine-art print portfolio produced in 1973. Skotnes carved 43 individual woodblocks, and Gray composed matching poetic verse captions for each print.

The original portfolio was limited to just 225 signed, hand-printed sets housed in a linen solander box. When launched at Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg in 1973, it created an immediate sensation among collectors. Due to overwhelming demand, McGraw-Hill published this enlarged hardcover edition in 1974 to bring the artwork and narrative to a broader public.

2. Revival of the "Block Book" Tradition

Skotnes and Gray explicitly conceived the project as a modern "block book" (a medieval publishing format where narrative text and woodcut imagery share equal, synchronous weight). Rather than merely illustrating Gray’s words, Skotnes’ bold, carved, modernist figures—rendered in rich earth tones—drive the visual pace of the narrative.

3. A Pre-Democracy Alternative Narrative

Published at the height of the Apartheid era in South Africa, the book represented a significant cultural moment:

• Centering Indigenous History: It reframed King Shaka kaSenzangakhona not through the lens of colonial frontier propaganda, but as a complex, mythic, and monumental nation-builder.

• Dukuza Event: It explicitly chronicles the conspiracy and fatal stabbing of Shaka on September 22, 1828, at his royal kraal, Dukuza (modern-day Stanger / KwaDukuza in KwaZulu-Natal), by his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangane, alongside the servant Mbopa.

4. Renowned International Praise

The portfolio attracted attention far beyond South Africa. Famous American novelist Kurt Vonnegut was famously gifted a copy by Stephen Gray and wrote back in admiration:

"The Assassination of Shaka is the best present I have received. You and Mr. Skotnes took control of my head and made me feel big things very foreign to me."

5. Pioneer of the Polly Street Art Centre Movement

Cecil Skotnes was a pivotal figure in 20th-century South African modernism. As the director of the influential Polly Street Art Centre in Johannesburg during the 1950s and 60s, he mentored key Black South African artists—including Sydney Kumalo and Ezrom Legae—fostering a distinct, African-centered aesthetic that blended indigenous carving traditions with modern graphic abstraction. The Assassination of Shaka remains one of his definitive career achievements.