Correspondence: Big Game Hunter Frederick Noble Findlay (1900)
R25,000

A collection of 30 signed manuscript letters written by Frederick Roderick Noble Findlay, author of 'Big Game Shooting and Travel in South-East Africa - An Account of Shooting Trips in the Cheringoma and Gorongoza Divisions of Portuguese South-East Africa and in Zululand'.
Addressed to Mr. Colles of 'The Author's Syndicate' Findlay often mentions Selous, Samuel C. Cronwright-Schreiner, Olive Schreiner, Louis Botha. Caldwell is suggested as the illustrator. Some letter were written from Diyatalawa POW Camp in the Boer War, where he was a censor.

See more images and details on the website:

https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/hunting/correspondence-big-game-hunter-frederick-noble-findlay

See more on Hunting on the website.

Lower & Exterior Ethiopia by Olfert Dapper (1670)
R12,500

A seventeenth-century map of Southern Africa, as well as the south-eastern parts of Madagascar, from the German edition of Dapper's Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche Gewesten, commonly known as the Description of Africa. The interior of the continent features African animals, including elephants, a rhinoceros in the Congo, lions, an ostrich in Monomotapa, and a group of buffalo above the Cape of Good Hope. In an act of cartographic speculation, the rounded bottom of the continent also features a dotted outline, suggesting a potential pointed coastline for the Cape of Good Hope, as was often shown in earlier maps of the continent.

See more images and details on the website:

https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/antique-maps-of-africa/lower-and-exterior-ethiopia-by-olfert-dapper-1670

See more Antique Maps of Africa on the website.

Original pen and ink sketch by D. C. Boonzaier c.1903
R5,000

Daniël Cornelis Boonzaier (11 November 1865 – 20 March 1950) was a South African cartoonist. He was famous for his caricatures of Cape politicians and celebrities at the turn of the century, and later for his anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist cartoons for Die Burger. He fathered the artist Gregoire Boonzaier. In 1903 Boonzaier was hired by The South Africa News, becoming South Africa's first full-time newspaper cartoonist.

In February 1903, Chamberlain met with Boer leaders and the Afrikaner Bond. The characters depicted are: Sammy Marks; General Jan Smuts; Colonial secretary Joseph Chamberlain; General de Wet and General de la Rey.

See more images and details on the website:

https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/boer-war/petition-handed-to-colonial-secretary-chamberlain-c1903

See more on the Boer War on the website.

A leaf from the Corpus luris Canonici, (c.1490 Incunabula)
R3,000 

This is a remarkable example of an incunabula (a book printed before 1501) or a very early 16th-century legal text. It features the classic "scholastic layout," where the core text is surrounded by a dense web of secondary commentary. The text mentions "Presbyteri in monasterio" (Priests in the monastery) and "papa" (Pope). Given the red header "Deecodem. Palea.", this is almost certainly a leaf from the Corpus Iuris Canonici—the body of laws governing the Catholic Church. The term Palea refers to specific additions made to the original teachings of Gratian.

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https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/religion/a-leaf-from-the-corpus-luris-canonici-c1490-incunabula

See more on Religion on the website.

Broadside: Lord Byron’s Sardanapalus (1834)
R3,000 

This is a classic theatrical playbill (broadside) for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, dated Saturday, April 12, 1834.

It is a remarkable piece of 19th-century ephemera, particularly for its connection to Romantic literature and the "Golden Age" of British theater. The headline advertises the 3rd night of Lord Byron’s tragedy, Sardanapalus.

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https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/theatre-and-poetry/broadside-lord-byrons-sardanapalus-1834

See more Theatre & Poetry on the website.

Fook Island Banknote, signed by Norman Catherine (c.1970's)
R3,000 

A piece of South African art history. A Fook Island Banknote, specifically the "1ak" note, created as part of the Fook Island conceptual art project, the brainchild of the legendary South African artist Walter Battiss (known as King Ferd III of Fook Island) and his close collaborator, Norman Catherine (known as the Norman King), who is the artist of this specific banknote (see signature).

Fook Island, founded in the early 1970s, was a "utopian, imaginary island" created as a playful but pointed rebuke to the rigid censorship and social restrictions of apartheid-era South Africa.

See more images and details on the website:

https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/artwork-southafrican/fook-island-banknote-signed-by-norman-catherine-c1970s

See more South African Art on the website.

Union Line Map of South Africa (1889)
R2,500 

Note “Shortest route to the South African Gold Fields.”

The Union Line Map of South Africa (1889) is a historically significant document published by the Union Steamship Company during the peak of South Africa's gold fever. It served as both a promotional tool for the shipping line and a practical guide for travelers arriving from London to explore the interior's burgeoning mineral wealth.

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https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/transport/union-line-map-of-south-africa-1889

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Three WWll POW postcards - Lt. Col. P.L. Kriek
R2,000 for the collection.

Historically significant collection of correspondence from a South African prisoner of war (POW) during World War II. They tell the story of Lt. Col. P.L. Kriek (1895–1947), a man of considerable influence in civilian life who found himself "a canary in a cage" in German captivity.

Kriek was a prominent figure in the Afrikaans community. He was the editor of Die Landbouweekblad (a major agricultural magazine) starting in 1925. He also wrote under the pseudonym "Oom Gog."

See more images and details on the website:

https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/afrikaans-books/three-wwll-pow-postcards

See more Afrikaans Books on the website.

Letter: St. Helena; Tomb of Napoleon I
R1,000 

A letter written on the official stationery of the "Habitation et Tombeau de Napoléon 1er" (The House and Tomb of Napoleon I) on the island of Saint Helena.

This document is a wonderful piece of primary source history connecting the French administration of Saint Helena with the diplomatic outpost in South Africa. It highlights the logistical difficulties of mid-19th-century maritime travel and the mundane administrative concerns (like travel costs and family luggage) that went into maintaining one of history's most famous exile sites.

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https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/militaria/letter-st-helena-tomb-of-napoleon-i-1863

See more Militaria on the website.

Wembley Stadium A.F.C. Winners Photograph 1937
R1,000  

AFC Wimbledon is a professional football club with a strong history of appearing at Wembley Stadium.

See more images and details on the website:

https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/sport/wembley-stadium-afc-winners-photograph-1937

See more Sport & Games on the website.

Events in Kwa-Zulu Natal

Rare Kwa-Zulu Natal Documents

Sunday, May 3, 2026
10:00 AM
Orchard House, St John’s Village, Howick.

James Findlay will give a talk on Rare Kwa-Zulu Natal documents to the Lions River Heritage Society on Sunday 3 May.
Visitors welcome (cost R20).

New stock is being added to the website daily.

For more information, don't hesitate to get in touch with James
+27 (0) 79 779 4574
jamesfindlaycollectablebooks@gmail.com

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