The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood 1871
(Table Bay Fore-edge Painting).
R30,000  

Why would an artist paint a Cape scene on a poetry book?

Keith Fletcher was an ex-policeman, who I presume fell on hard times. His modus operandi was to trawl the bookshops in Cecil Court, London. There he would meticulously single out fine bindings that were cheap. Just like today, the unsellable poetry books and so on. He created many fore-edge paintings in the 1950’s.

To some collectors, these forgeries are quite collectable. There's now a tangible provenance to the book, a mystery, a forger and a beautiful fore-edge painting.

See more images and details on the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/the-cape/table-bay-fore-edge-painting

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See more on The Cape on the website.
There are 59 items in this category.

L'Africa, published in Rome by Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi (c.1700)
R12,500

While the map was printed and published in Rome, the cartouche notes that it was corrected and updated based on the work of Guillaume Sanson (Guglielmo Sansone), the official royal geographer to King Louis XIV of France. This reflects a major shift in 17th-century mapmaking: the center of cartographic innovation was moving away from the Netherlands and into France. Italian publishers like De Rossi kept their atlases cutting-edge by licensing, translating, and adapting the latest French military and commercial geography for Mediterranean scholars and elites.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/antique-maps-of-africa/by-giovanni-giacomo-de-rossi-c1700

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See more Antique Maps of Africa on the website.
There are 31 items in this category.

"Zur Erinnerung an meinen Aufenthalt in Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika" (In memory of my stay in German South West Africa) c.1908
R12,500

96 original photographs.

These albums were primarily produced for and purchased by officers, soldiers (Schutztruppe), and administrative officials returning to Germany. They served as a personal record of their deployment in the colony (modern-day Namibia). Because commercial photography was in its infancy in the region, specialized publishers or local photographers compiled these bound volumes containing high-quality platinum prints or photogravures to sell to the departing troops.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/namibia-swa/schutztruppe-photograph-album-c1908

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See more on Namibia on the website.
There are 4 items in this category. (NEW)

Abstract Composition by Cecil Skotnes
R4,000

Woodcut, signed and numbered 191/250 in pencil

Cecil Skotnes (1926–2009) was a central figure in South African art history, known for his role as a mentor and for developing a distinctively South African style.

Image size: 205mm by 260mm

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/artwork-southafrican/abstract-composition-by-cecil-skotnes

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See more South African Art on the website.
There are 35 items in this category.

Stills from the 1964 film Zulu by photographer Peter G. Higgins (5)
R3,500 

These images document original, vintage production/promotional stills from the iconic 1964 epic war film Zulu, captured by Johannesburg-based photographer Peter G. Higgins.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/photography/promotional-stills-from-zulu-1964

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

Engraving of Ascension Island, by Jan Huyghen van Linschoten (c.1598)
R3,000 

This copperplate engraving depicts Ascension Island, drawn by the Dutch explorer and merchant Jan Huyghen van Linschoten for his monumental travelogue, the Itinerario (first published in 1596).

The information that allowed this map to be printed was essentially stolen. Van Linschoten spent years serving as the secretary to the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa in India. While holding this position of immense trust, he secretly copied highly guarded, top-secret Portuguese maritime charts, pilot guides (roteiros), and commercial data page by page.

When he returned to the Netherlands and published his findings alongside maps like this one, he shattered the century-long Portuguese monopoly on the trade routes to the East Indies. The Itinerario became the literal blueprint that allowed the Dutch and British East India Companies (VOC and EIC) to launch their empires.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/maps-of-southern-africa/ascension-island-c1598

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See more Antique Maps of Southern Africa on the website.
There are 15 items in this category.

Four Hand Coloured Lithographs after Thomas Bowler (1865)
R3,000 

Bowler provided the original, luminous watercolors from his travels, but he lacked the specialized equipment at the Cape to print them at this scale. He sent them to London to Day & Son (Lithographers to the Queen).

Master lithographers like Frank Jones meticulously copied Bowler’s work onto the lithographic limestone blocks. The exquisite handling of the sky, the subtle tonal gradations of the tinted background, and the sharp foreground details show why Day & Son were considered the finest in the world at capturing atmospheric weather patterns—something Bowler was obsessed with portraying.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/the-cape/four-hand-coloured-lithographs-1865

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See more on The Cape on the website.
There are 59 items in this category.

SPRO-CAS Critique of "Bantu Education" and Conformity (c.1973)
R2,000 

The acronym SPRO-CAS stands for the Study Project on Christianity in Apartheid Society, an incredibly influential initiative launched in 1969 by the South African Council of Churches and the Christian Institute. Following the brutal political crackdowns and bannings of the 1960s, SPRO-CAS brought together the country's sharpest progressive minds, academics, and activists to methodically dissect and publish exposés on how apartheid corrupted every facet of South African life.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/posters/critique-of-bantu-education

See more Political Posters on the website.
There are 37 posters in this category.

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Movie Posters have moved to Theatre & Film
Art Exhibition Posters have moved to South African Artwork

Etching "Cogmanskloof and Fort" (Block House near Montagu) by Francois Krige c.1970
R1,500

A limited edition piece number ⁠25/25⁠.

Though Krige was an exceptionally talented draftsman who studied graphic arts and intaglio techniques at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp during the 1930s, he largely set printmaking aside for decades to focus on oil painting and field sketching (notably as an official war artist in WWII).

That changed in 1966 when he married Sylvia Shear and settled into a 19th-century house in the Klein Karoo town of Montagu. The dramatic, twisted geological formations of the surrounding Cape Fold Mountains—specifically the dramatic Cogmanskloof Pass right on his doorstep—reignited his interest in the etching needle.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/boer-war/cogmanskloof-and-fort-by-francois-krige-c1970

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See more on the Boer War on the website
There are 45 items in this category

Issue #24 of i-jusi, titled "South African Stories." 2007
R800 

i-jusi (the Zulu word for "juice") was founded in Durban by prominent graphic designer Garth Walker in early 1995—just a year after South Africa’s historic first democratic elections. With the fall of apartheid, Walker launched the experimental magazine to challenge the dominant, Western-centric design aesthetics of the time. The publication asked a fundamental, radical question for a newly reborn nation: "What makes me African—and what does that look like?"

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/art-books/issue-24-of-i-jusi-south-african-stories-2007

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See more Art Books on the website.
There are 43 items in this category.

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Fake News & Banned Books

Join James Findlay for morning tea at Rawdons Hotel. Enjoy tales of fake books; smuggled books; books banned by the Nats; a con-man cartographer and a poster that was not banned.

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