Public denunciation of "Herman Malan." - Herman Charles Bosman (1934)
R12,500  

This is the maiden issue of The New Lash, dated Wednesday, 7th February 1934, featuring a brutal, front-page public denunciation of a poet named "Herman Malan" the pseudonym of Herman Charles Bosman.

Just a few years before this 1934 issue was printed, Bosman had been convicted of shooting and killing his stepbrother. He spent four years on death row, doing hard labour inside Pretoria Central Prison. When he was paroled in 1930, he adopted the pen name "Herman Malan" to distance himself from the murder trial and aggressively entered the Johannesburg literary and journalism scene.

See more images and details on the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/first-editions/public-denunciation-of-herman-malan

See more First Editions on the website.
There are 31 items in this category.

Photograph Album featuring New South Wales, Australia (c.1895)
R7,500

Half leather album with 66 large-format photographs, presenting late 19th-century Sydney produced by Kerry & Co.

Charles Kerry’s studio operated as the largest photo-publishing house in Australia from its three-story headquarters at 310 George Street. Kerry popularized the distribution of albumen prints and glass-plate landscapes that shaped the international visual image of colonial New South Wales.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/photography/new-south-wales-australia

See more on Photography on the website.
There are 18 items in this category.

UN Decade for Women 1976–1985
R4,000

While the UN Decade for Women (1976–1985) was intended to focus globally on equality, development, and peace, the conferences themselves became intense proxy battlegrounds for the Cold War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The two previous conferences (Mexico City in 1975 and Copenhagen in 1980) had nearly imploded due to deep political divisions between Western delegations and the Soviet/Non-Aligned blocs. This poster, issued by the All Arab Women Federation, perfectly captures that friction. By tearing through the American flag to reveal a stylized Cuban flag (the single white star in a blue triangle with red and white stripes), the imagery directly links the Arab feminist struggle to Marxist, anti-imperialist, and pro-revolutionary movements of the era.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/posters/un-decade-for-women

See more on Political Posters on the website.
There are 40 items in this category.

"Cape of Good Hope, Natal &c." by Edward Weller (1863)
R3,500

While it looks like a formal atlas map today, this map was actually produced for the Weekly Dispatch Atlas (around 1860–1863). The Weekly Dispatch was a popular Sunday newspaper in London. To boost circulation, the paper began issuing highly detailed, large-scale maps as weekly supplements for a fraction of a penny extra. Subscribers would collect them week by week and later have them bound together. It represents a massive democratization of cartography, bringing accurate, global geographical knowledge into middle-class Victorian homes.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/kwazulu-natal/cape-of-good-hope-natal

See more on KwaZulu Natal on the website.
There are 33 items in this category.

Reclining Nude Abstract by George Boys (c.1985)
R3,500 

George Boys (1930–2014) was a prominent figure in South African abstract art, celebrated for his fluid, organic compositions, mastery of texture, and space-age or biomorphic forms.

Number 157/250 limited-edition original print (likely an airbrush).

The piece showcases his signature use of soft, airbrushed tonal gradations. He beautifully contrasts velvet blacks, granular stippled greys, and stark, uninked white space to create a striking sense of three-dimensional depth.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/artwork-southafrican/reclining-nude-abstract-by-george-boys-c1985

See more South African Artwork on the website.
There are 38 items in this category.

Ephemera Relating to The End Conscription Campaign c.1985 (4)
R2,500 

This collection of ephemera captures one of the most powerful and strategic anti-apartheid movements of the 1980s: the End Conscription Campaign (ECC). Formed in 1983, the ECC was a coalition of organizations that fought against the compulsory military conscription of all white South African men into the South African Defence Force (SADF).

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/militaria/ephemera-relating-to-the-end-conscription-campaign-c1985

See more on Militaria on the website.
There are 49 items in this category.

Several individual Issues of Missionary Sketches published by the London Missionary Society (1819 - 1828)
R2,000 

Several individual issues of Missionary Sketches, an early 19th-century quarterly periodical

Historically, this specific artifact is a brilliant example of how early global media, imperial history, and fundraising intersected. These sketches were explicitly printed "For the Use of the Weekly and Monthly Contributors to the Missionary Society."

The Penny-a-Week Movement: In the early 1800s, the LMS pioneered a democratic fundraising model where working-class Brits contributed just a penny a week. To keep these low-income donors engaged, the society published Missionary Sketches, which relied heavily on striking, dramatic woodcut illustrations (like the depiction of the goddess Durga⁠).

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/religion/issues-of-missionary-sketches

See more on Religion on the website.
There are 23 items in this category.

Western Cape Auctioneers Broadsides c.1880’s
R2,000 for a collection of 9

The broadsides for properties in Ceres, Tulbagh, and the Koue Bokkeveld are printed entirely in Dutch. In these agricultural hinterlands, the farming community (the Boers) remained deeply rooted in their traditional language and Roman-Dutch legal customs.

Almost every Dutch poster prominently features the word Executeurskamer (Board of Executors). This was a uniquely South African fiduciary institution. The first Board of Executors was established in Cape Town in 1838 to administer estates, trusts, and insolvencies.

Because the colony was transitioning from the old Dutch East India Company (VOC) administrative framework to British rule, these boards filled a critical gap. They combined British commercial practices with Roman-Dutch law, ensuring that local estates were managed reliably without relying entirely on a distant imperial government.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/the-cape/auctioneers-broadsides-c1880s

See more on The Cape on the website.
There are 55 items in this category.

Punch Among the Planets by Harry Furniss, December 1890
R1,500

The elaborate, densely packed satirical double-page spread is titled "Punch Among the Planets". It was illustrated by the celebrated Victorian artist and caricaturist Harry Furniss for the Christmas Number of Punch magazine in December 1890 (Volume 99).

At first glance, it looks like a whimsical, cosmic fantasy, but it is actually a deeply layered political time capsule.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/science-maths/punch-among-the-planets-1890

See more on Science & Maths on the website
There are 16 items in this category

Abstract Lithograph by Jean Le Moal (1956)
R1,500

Jean Le Moal (1909–2007) was a leading light of the Nouvelle École de Paris and a prominent force in the Lyrical Abstraction (Abstraction Lyrique) and Tachisme movements.

Solo exhibition by the French painter and printmaker held from February 3 to 24, 1956, at the Galerie de France in Paris. This is the limited-edition original lithograph that served as the cover art for the exhibition catalogue.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/artwork-international/abstract-lithograph-by-jean-le-moal-1956

See more International Artwork on the website.
There are 15 items in this category.

Fake News & Banned Books

James Findlay will share stories about banned books from his private collection, ‘fake news’ from 1801 and other fascinating anecdotes that illuminate the joy of collecting rare books, maps and documents.
This is the same talk that James gave on 16 July.

Date: Sunday, 6 September, 2026.
Time: 10h00
Venue: The Patio at Rawdons Hotel. Nottingham Road, KwaZulu-Natal
Price: R120 per person, tea, scones and sandwiches.
Booking essential. Tickets through Quicket.

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