A Collection of 4 Eugene Marais Bookplates (3 by J.H. Pierneef)
R15,000

These bookplates belonged to the famous South African lawyer, naturalist, poet, and author Eugène Nielen Marais (1871–1936) and his estranged only child, Eugène Charles Gerard Marais (known as Eugene C.G. Marais).

J.H Pierneef, one of South Africa's most famous landscape artists, was a close friend and contemporary of Eugène Marais and his intellectual circle in Pretoria (including Gustav Preller). Pierneef designed the block-print linocut for Eugene C.G. Marais.

For more details and images, go to the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/afrikaans-books/eugene-marais-bookplates

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There are currently 16 items in this category.

Sketchbook by the South African Impressionist artist Peter Percival William Lamb (1943)
R12,500

This original sketchbook features a live observational pencil study drawn by the South African Impressionist and portrait painter Peter Percival William Lamb (1905–1963).

Dated 1943, these sketches were executed while Lamb was serving in the Union Defence Force (UDF) during World War II (1940–1944).

Known primarily for his portraits (including commissions of Yehudi Menuhin, Lord Nuffield, and Archbishop Denis Hurley), Lamb’s rapid, expressive line-work showcases his ability to capture candid human expression, posture, and social intimacy in a swift, informal medium.

For more details and images, go to the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/art-books/sketchbook-by-impressionist-peter-lamb

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There are currently 48 books in this category, including Rock Art

Three First Editions illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz")
R7,500 for 3 editions

Barrington (1863), Davenport Dunn: A Man of Our Day (1859), and The Dodd Family Abroad (1854) represent mid-19th-century Victorian publishing by Charles Lever, issued in single-volume form by Chapman & Hall with original steel-engraved plates by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz").

The Phiz Collaboration: Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz") was Charles Dickens’ primary illustrator for over two decades (collaborating on Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, and Bleak House). His long-running partnership with Lever was equally celebrated, defined by energetic caricatures and atmospheric etchings that perfectly captured Lever's satirical tone.

For more details and images, go to the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/first-editions/three-first-editions-illustrated-by-phiz

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There are currently 32 items in this category.

Two-volume Biography of Henry Salt, published in 1834 by his close friend, the painter J. J. Halls.
R6,500

While serving as the British Consul-General in Egypt from 1815 until his death in 1827, Henry Salt financed the legendary extraction of the colossal seven-ton granite bust of Ramesses II (then referred to as the "Younger Memnon") from the Ramesseum at Thebes.

To pull off the impossible feat of moving the massive artifact, Salt hired the former circus strongman turned engineer-explorer, Giovanni Belzoni. When news reached London that Salt and Belzoni were shipping this enormous, shattered visage of the ancient Pharaoh back to Great Britain, it sparked a friendly poetry competition between Percy Bysshe Shelley and Horace Smith in late 1817. The result was Shelley’s immortal poem, Ozymandias.

For more details and images, go to the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/books-on-africa/biography-of-henry-salt-1834

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There are currently 43 books in this category.

Somerset Playne’s Cape Colony 1910–11 Inscribed (1911)
R4,500

Families and businesses paid to be featured, so these volumes contain photographic documentation, farm histories, and commercial portraits that exist nowhere else in official state records.

The handwritten inscription on the flyleaf: "Presented to the Club by Somerset Playne" (dated 1911 and noted as "Inscribed by the author")—is a classic example of Playne’s promotional circuit. Upon completing these massive, gilded gift books, he routinely presented inscribed copies to prestigious gentlemen's clubs, municipal libraries, and commercial exchanges in the towns he covered to secure goodwill and future sales.

For more details and images, go to the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/the-cape/somerset-playnes-cape-colony

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There are currently 51 items in this category

Tales by Sinclair Beiles, illustrated by Cecil Skotnes (1972)
R4,000

First Edition

Sinclair Beiles (b. Kampala, Uganda, 1930–2000, Johannesburg) was a South African beat poet and editor for Maurice Girodias at the Olympia Press in Paris. He developed, along with William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, the cut-up technique of writing poetry and literature.

Six original woodcuts printed from the original blocks by Cecil Skotnes (This was his first attempt at book illustration).

For more details and images, go to the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/private-press-books/tales-by-sinclair-beiles-1972

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There are currently 41 items in this category.

First edition of Father Alfred T. Bryant’s Zulu-English Dictionary (1905)
R2,500

Beyond standard lexicography, Bryant’s dictionary was one of the earliest systematic attempts to record hlonipha—the avoidance language practices spoken traditionally by Zulu women out of respect for male in-laws. It also doubled as a foundational historical text, carrying a preliminary account of Zulu origins before Bryant published his masterwork, Olden Times in ZuluLand and Natal.

For more details and images, go to the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/kwazulu-natal/bryants-zulu-english-dictionary

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There are currently 37 items in this category.

Le premier établissement des Néerlandais à Maurice by R.Bonaparte (1890)
R1,500

"The First Settlement of the Dutch in Mauritius" by Prince Roland Bonaparte (1858–1924), the grand-nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. Prince Roland was a passionate geographer, anthropologist, and botanist. He served as President of the Société de Géographie in Paris from 1910 until his death.

Rather than being issued through a commercial publishing house for general trade distribution, this work was privately printed at Bonaparte's own expense in Paris, intended mainly for scholarly distribution and private presentation copies.

For more info and images, go to the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/books-rest-of-the-world/le-premier-tablissement-des-nerlandais-maurice

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There are currently 27 items in this category.

A deluxe edition of Cats by Dr. Anthony Hall-Martin (1997)
R1,500

The text was written by Dr. Anthony Hall-Martin (1945–2014), one of Africa’s most preeminent conservationists. A renowned authority on African megafauna, he served as Director of South African National Parks (SANParks)—where he was pivotal in establishing and expanding major reserves like Table Mountain, Addo Elephant, and Agulhas National Parks—and later co-founded the non-profit African Parks.

The volume features original oil paintings, sketches, and mapwork by Paul Bosman. Known for his natural history art, Bosman spent decades documenting African wildlife in the field, combining precise scientific accuracy with fine art.

For more details and images, go to the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/natural-history/a-deluxe-edition-of-cats-by-dr-anthony-hall-martin-1997

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There are currently 28 items in this category.

Vervolgsde Laura ("Persecuted Laura") by Adam Karelsz (1679)
R1,250

Translated from a Spanish drama, this play was performed at the famous Schouwburg van Van Campen (Amsterdam’s first city theater). Published by Michiel de Groot on the Nieuwendijk in 1679 as the "fourth printing, revised and corrected," its frequent reprinting demonstrates the 17th-century public's appetite for theatrical thrillers.

While credited on the title page to "Adam Karels van Zjermez," the handwritten note on the invoice identifies the actual author/translator as Frederik van den Brande (who used "Adam Karelsz. van Zjermez" as an anagrammatic pseudonym).

For more details and images, go to the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/the-cape/chronicles-of-cape-commanders-1882

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There are currently 23 items in this category.

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James Findlay
+27 (0) 79 779 4574
jamesfindlaycollectablebooks@gmail.com

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