Between Sun and Sand. A Tale of an African Desert

(Cape Town: J. C. Juta & Co., [1912]). Signed by Judge Marius Diemont, with his attractive bookplate, to front pastedown. Crown 8vo; original cream cloth, with blind-stamped boards, and spine lettered in gilt; pp. (xii) + 294. A little discoloration to cloth; trace of foxing to edges, and occasionally elsewhere. A very good copy of this attractive edition. The first edition of this work was issued by Methuen in 1898. Contrary to the publication date provided in Hosken and elsewhere, 'A South African Bibliography', based on the acquisition dates of both the British Museum and South African Library copies, gives 1912 as the publication date of the Juta edition. (SABIB IV, p. 181; Hosken, p. 178) The book reflects "the hardships suffered by nomadic farmers in Namaqualand and Bushmanland", and is "an episodic novel, notable for the creation of some memorable bushveld characters ... " - Adey, et al: Companion to South African English Literature, p. 177. "His particular literary merit lies in the integrity with which he recorded the contemporary scene. A lifetime spent in the Cape civil service gave him an intimate knowledge of South Africa and its peoples; the extent to which his books reflect this knowledge makes them a source of valuable information for the historian and sociologist." - DSAB I, p. 705. .