Incredibly rare and collectable books

Ouma Smuts’ Music Book
August 1901

Manuscript, kept by Isie Smuts while detained under house arrest in Pietermaritzburg during the Second Boer War.

”Despite her wish to be held with other women in the nearby concentration camp, Smuts and her party lived in a house. They frequently visited the camp to console the inmates and bring them items they had knitted.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isie_Smuts

This is a fragile item and unusual to have survived.

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24cm x 29cm

R100,000.

Ost-Indische Reise-Beschreibung (East Indian Travel Diary) 1687

Extremely rare First Edition 1687 by Elias Hesse.
No collation available for this copy. Sold as is.

Elias Hesse (born November 12, 1658) was a German man who travelled through Southeast Asia in the 17th century. He was recruited by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a clerk in Benjamin Olitzsch's ill-fated gold mining expedition.

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10cm x 15cm

R100,000

The Worst Journey in the World

Antarctic 1910-1913 By Apsley Cherry-Garrard
First Edition 1922, 2 Volumes

Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard (2 January 1886 – 18 May 1959) was an English explorer of Antarctica. He was a member of the Terra Nova expedition and is acclaimed for his 1922 account of this expedition, The Worst Journey in the World, a memoir of Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to the South Pole in 1910–1913. It has earned wide praise for its frank treatment of the difficulties of the expedition, the causes of its disastrous outcome, and the meaning of human suffering under extreme conditions.

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15cm x 23cm

R20,000.

The History of Jack the Giant Killer

1804
Tabart’s Improved Edition of Jack the Giant-Killer with 3 coloured plates

”Between 1801 and 1818, the imprint of "Tabart & Company at The Juvenile and School Library" is known to have published at least one hundred and seventy-four books. That is an average of a little over ten books per year, a volume of production which any early nineteenth-century publisher would envy. The majority of those books were single stories which were published individually in the small, pocket editions which had become very popular with children, and their parents. Most of these stories were drawn from traditional fairy tales or the time-honored indigenous folk tales which had been published in chapbooks for several decades. But these stories were not simply reprinted. Each was edited for content, to remove those things which might be considered inappropriate for children. The grammar was polished to bring each story up to the standards of the time, and new engravings were commissioned to illustrate the text. The improved text was properly typeset and printed, along with the new illustrations, to produce high-quality editions of these stories”. Publications of Benjamin Tabart’s Juvenile Library

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7.5cm x 12.5cm

R7,500

Billy Al Bengston Exhibition Catalogue

1968, First Edition
Sandpaper wrappers

According to Grace Glueck of The New York Times, Bengston "was among the first to ditch traditional oil paint on canvas, opting instead for sprayed layers of automobile lacquer on aluminum in soft colors, achieving a highly reflective, translucent surface."

Bengston encouraged viewers in the early 1960s to associate his art with motorcycle subculture; on the cover of a 1961 catalogue for a Ferus show, he was seen straddling a motorcycle. (He also competed in motocross competitions.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Al_Bengston

Installation design for this exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art by Architect Frank Gehry

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28cm x 23cm

R4,000

Gerard Sekoto
Barbara Lindop (ed. Mona de Beer)
Published by Dictum, Randburg, 1988

Printed signature (not original)
Ex Libris Natalie Knight and Zamie Liknaitzky

Gerard Sekoto OIG* (9 December 1913 – 20 March 1993), was a South African artist and musician. He is recognised as a pioneer of urban black art and social realism. His work was exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, and Senegal, as well as in South Africa.

*The Order of Ikhamanga is a South African civilian honour that recognises achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports. The Order of Ikhamanga is granted by the President of South Africa to South African citizens. Ikhamanga is the Xhosa name for Strelitzia reginae, a flower.

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25cm x 23cm

R4,000

Men for All Seasons and Legendary Ladies
By Anthony Dyer
Second Edition 2008, Rowland Ward Publications, Johannesburg

There is no one more qualified to write this title than Anthony Dyer. He grew up during this period, hunted the areas himself and knew many of the professional hunters he has written about. There are chapters on Philip Percival, Bill Judd, Bror von Blixen, Alan Black, Andy Anderson, Bill Ryan, the Cottars, Myles Turner, David SSheldrick, Rene Babault, Don Bousfield, Boyce Roberts and Ken Clark. In addition there is much on Arthur Neumann, R.J. Cuninghame, Jack Riddell, Tony Archer, Pat Ayre, Donald Ker, Robert Foran, Tony Henley, Harry Selby, J.A. Hunter Fritz Schindelar, F.C. Selous and John Sutton to mention a few. The incredible women of that time are represented by Elizabeth Cross, Kathleen Seth-Smith, Vivienne de Watteville, Geraldine Sladen and Beryl Markham.

22.5cm x 28.5cm

R2,000

Lila: An Inquiry into Morals
By Robert M Pirsig, 1991
Signed, First Standard Edition.

Lila: An Inquiry into Morals is the second philosophical novel by Robert M. Pirsig, who is best known for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Lila: An Inquiry into Morals was a nominated finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992

16cm x 24cm

R1,500

Quentin Keynes 1921-2003

Explorer, film-maker, lecturer and book-collector
Signed by Simon Keynes (on Quentin’s behalf)
Limited Edition 243 of 500

Quentin George Keynes was born in London, the second son of Geoffrey Keynes and his wife Margaret, the daughter of George Howard Darwin who in turn was the son of Charles Darwin, making Keynes Darwin's great-grandson.

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15cm x 21.5cm

R1,250.

Die Groot Trek By C. Louis Leipoldt
First Edition, 1938

Christian Frederik Louis Leipoldt, usually referred to as C. Louis Leipoldt, was a South African poet, dramatist, medical doctor, reporter and food expert. Together with Jan F. E. Celliers and J. D. du Toit, he was one of the leading figures in the poetry of the Second Afrikaans Movement.

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14cm x 18.5cm

R1,000.

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