Father Frans Claerhout Deluxe boxed set, incomplete (1992)
R10,000

The life and thoughts of Belgian-South African Catholic priest and artist Father Frans Claerhout (1919–2006).

Limited to 550 copies, this volume is No. 98.

An incomplete deluxe boxed set; text of 20 pages complete; only 8 out of the 26 signed prints are present; all pages have slight surface wear and thumb creases.

See more images and details on the website: https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/art-books/claerhout-deluxe-boxed-set

See more Art Books on the website.
There are 53 items in this category.

A New Map of Africa by John Cary (1805)
R8,000  

This 1805 engraving by John Cary, titled "A New Map of Africa from the Latest Authorities," captures European geography at a critical crossroads. It sits on the divide between speculative, myth-heavy mapmaking and the rigorous, empirical exploration of the 19th century.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/antique-maps-of-africa/by-john-cary-1805

See more Maps of Africa on the website.
There are 35 items in this category.

Banned Poster: Freedom Charter Issued by the South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) c.1989
R6,500

To be caught in the possession of a poster like this might have resulted in a 5 year jail sentence. Very rare to find originals of these posters.

SAYCO was launched clandestinely in Cape Town in March 1987 at the height of the nationwide State of Emergency.

Because the African National Congress (ANC) and its youth league were banned, SAYCO was formed as an underground, militant affiliate of the United Democratic Front (UDF) to channel the revolutionary energy of the townships. Almost its entire leadership group—including its first president, Peter Mokaba—was constantly on the run, operating out of safehouses, or being detained without trial.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/posters/banned-freedom-charter

See more on Political Posters on the website.
There are 48 items in this category.

The Virgin Seated by a Wall after Albrecht Dürer (16th Century)
R3,500

A 16th-century copperplate engraving after Albrecht Dürer, created by an unknown contemporary copyist.

In Dürer's original 1514 master engraving, the Virgin sits facing toward the left, and the Nuremberg castle/tower appears in the background on the left side. Because the copyist engraved the design directly onto a new copper plate following the original print, printing it produced a laterally reversed (mirrored) image—placing the wall and castle on the right.

When printmakers copied Dürer’s works in the 16th century, copying the famous "AD" signature was heavily restricted (or deliberate forgery). Omitting the monogram on the wall/stone was standard practice for legitimate copyists or workshop printmakers working in period.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/artwork-international/virgin-seated

See more on International Art on the website.
There are 16 items in this category.

The Cape Colony published by John Tallis & Company (c1851)
R3,500 

This is a beautiful example of one of the most famous and visually striking eras in 19th-century commercial cartography.
John Tallis was one of the very last major commercial mapmakers to heavily feature decorative borders and pictorial vignettes. By the 1850s, the rise of utilitarian, mass-produced atlas maps meant that decorative flourishes were being phased out in favor of clean, plain scientific data.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/maps-of-southern-africa/the-cape-colony

See more Maps of Southern Africa on the website.
There are 20 items in this category.

Portrait of an Officer (c.1880)
R2,000 

A "painted photograph" or an overpainted solar print/enlargement, a highly popular medium between 1860 and 1890.

Photographic emulsions of the mid-19th century could not capture colour, and early large-scale prints often lacked contrast. Artists would print a faint photographic outline onto canvas or heavy paper and completely overlay it with oils, gouache, or watercolours.

The stiff, slightly formal pose, the reliance on a classical studio prop (the stone balustrade), and a generic, romanticized landscape background are classic indicators of Victorian photographic studio setups.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/militaria/portrait-of-an-officer

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

Poster of Miriam Makeba issued by Learn and Teach (c.1990)
R1,250 

Foldout insert issued by Learn and Teach magazine, a progressive, grassroots literacy and political publication in South Africa active during the late anti-apartheid era (1980s to early 1990s).

Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), globally known as "Mama Africa," was a legendary South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. She was one of the first African musicians to achieve major international success and played a pivotal role in bringing African music to a global audience while speaking out against apartheid.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/theatre/miriam-makeba-c1990

See more on Theatre, Film & Poetry on the website.
There are 24 items in this category.

African Posters: Basler Afrika Bibliographien by Giorgio Miescher and Dag Henrichsen (2004)
R1,250

The posters catalogued in this volume represent a remarkable intersection of diverse, global political networks from the 1970s through the 1990s:

It features rare, ephemeral print media from liberation and resistance movements including SWAPO (Namibia), the ANC (South Africa), ZANU (Zimbabwe), and FRELIMO (Mozambique). This includes incredibly scarce printings, such as posters reacting immediately to the Kassinga Raid of 1978.

The Solidarity Committee Influx: In the mid-1990s, the collection grew exponentially when European anti-apartheid and solidarity committees in Switzerland and Germany began disbanding post-independence. Instead of throwing away decades of underground campaign posters, flyers, and graphic art, they donated their archives to the BAB.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/posters/basler-afrika-bibliographien

See more on Political Posters on the website.
There are 48 items in this category.

Envelope Depicting Cape Town-The Cape of Good Hope (c.1855)
R1,000

In the mid-19th century, sending a letter was an expensive luxury, and the modern "picture postcard" had not yet been invented or legalized by international postal unions (which didn't happen until the late 1800s).

Items like this served as the functional ancestors to the postcard. Travelers, soldiers, and merchants passing through the Cape of Good Hope would buy these pictorial envelopes as souvenirs. They would write their letters on the blank reverse or on an enclosed sheet, fold it up (as shown by the flap lines), and mail it back home to Europe or England to show their families exactly what the distant, exotic port looked like.

Because these wrappers were meant to be torn open and were usually discarded after reading, finding an unused or well-preserved survival like this is an excellent find for cartographic, postal, and Cape ephemera collectors.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/philately/envelope-depicting-cape-town

See more Philately on the website
There are 22 items in this category

Naas Botha Tells All - Rapport Street Poster (1983)
R1,000

Vintage newsprint street poster (street placard) produced by the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper, Rapport.

Naas Botha—the legendary Springbok flyhalf and the "Golden Boy" of Northern Transvaal rugby—shocked the sporting world by traveling to the United States to try his hand at American football.

Interestingly, the poster shows Botha wearing a New York Jets jersey with the number 14. In reality, Botha never played for or signed with the Jets. He actually tried out as a placekicker for the Dallas Cowboys. The Jets uniform used for this promotional Rapport shoot was merely a stand-in to represent "American Gridiron" to a South African public that, at the time, knew almost nothing about the NFL.

See more images and details on the website:
https://jamesfindlaycollectablebooks.com/sport/naas-botha-tells-all

See more on Sport on the website.
There are 25 items in this category.

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