Search Results: South African Literature from Christison Rare Books, IOBA SABDA

---. Original wraps, working loose from text-block, slightly soiled and a little worn, tears, but no loss, on spine, pp. iv + (177 -) 268. Some corners slightly curled. Includes the first published appearance of Pauline Smith's short story, 'The Pain' (pp. 190 - 205), now regarded as one of the finest pieces of South African short story writing ever penned. .

(Cape Town: David Philip, 1983). Woodcut illustrations by Cecil Skotnes. 8vo; original brown boards, lettered in gilt on spine; laminated pictorial dustwrapper; pp. (viii) + 121; woodcut illustrations. Dustwrapper flaps a little browned; spine panel sunned, and worn at tail; spine slightly cocked; previous owner's book label to front free endpaper; some foxing. Good to very good condition. "Advance, Retreat: Selected Short Stories comprises the author's best works, many of which have been rewritten and updated specially for this book. They show the writer's progress from his earliest efforts such as Dagga-smoker's Dream, which won an award as early as 1955, to the title story, published as recently as 1982. This collection must be viewed as an important event in the development of the short story in southern African literature in English." - Dustwrapper gloss. "Richard Rive's pictures of Cape Town ... have an intensity and closeness to their scene which are… Read More

(Durban: Killie Campbell Africana Library/Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1989) 0869806866. 202 x 144 mm; laminated pictorial wrappers; pp. xxvi + 177, incl. index; portrait and title page vignette. Very slightly rubbed; some foxing. Very good condition. "The African poems of Thomas Pringle wrestle with issues that are still alive in South Africa today - racial conflict, political oppression, censorship and the need for freedom of expression. This volume reproduces Poems Illustrative of South Africa which appeared in 1834 and reflects Pringle's residence at the Cape for six years from 1820." .

(Grahamstown: African Book Company, 1908). 246 x 157 mm; side-stitched printed wraps; pp. (viii) + [113-224] + (viii); adverts. Cover slightly foxed and spine a little sunned; some wear to spine extremities; short tear to bottom edge of upper wrapper and preliminary advertisements; regular browning, owing to paper stock used. Good condition. Highlights of this number include H. W. A. Hopf's article on one of the most talked-about subjects of the day, the "Native Labour Question", H. A. Bryden's biographical article on Samuel Baker, entitled "After Big Game with Rifle and Sword", and the second part of Cullen Gouldsbury's three-part tale "Maturin's Marriage". .

(Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1984). 180 x 120 mm; pictorial wraps with small scuff mark; inside of covers slightly foxed; pp. (vi) + 260; moderate browning throughout. Good condition. "Es'kia Mphahlele's first work of autobiography, Down Second Avenue, is one of the classics of African literature. After that seedtime came the years of exile during which he was a 'listed person' - none of his works could be read in South Africa. His second autobiography, Afrika My Music, is set amidst the tumultuous years of his return to South Africa after 1976." .

(Amsterdam & Pretoria, no date, inscription dated 1905). Cloth slightly fishmothed. .

(Cape Town: David Philip, 1981) 0908396481. 8vo; original red cloth, lettered in gilt on spine; laminated dustwrapper; pp. (viii) + 271. Dustwrapper very lightly sunned on spine panel; some foxing to edges and endpapers; loosely inserted newspaper review of the novel. Good to very good condition. "Ah, but your land is beautiful is a book that jolts the reader into an unexpectedly vivid awareness of what was actually happening to the lives of individuals in South Africa in the 1950s. It is the first novel in a trilogy that will shock and move its readers in a way perhaps even surpassing the extraordinary impact of Paton's classic, Cry, the Beloved Country. Here is Paton writing at the peak of his powers." .

(New York: Twayne Publishers, 1968). Twayne's World Authors Series, number 40. 8vo; original red rexine, lettered in silver gilt on spine and upper cover; no dustwrapper; pp. 160, incl. index. Library ink stamp to copyright page; library ink stamps and label scars to rear endpaper; slight impression to lower board. Good. "Since his first novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, appeared in 1948, Alan Paton has been accepted as one of the foremost interpreters of South African life and society through the medium of literature. Prior to 1948 he had gained a fine professional reputation for his creative approach to problems of penal reform; and in more recent years he has felt compelled to enter public life as an active leader of the Liberal Party to promote the spirit of non-racial democracy in South Africa. The principal aim of this book has been to describe and evaluate Alan Paton's literary achievement in fiction, drama, biography, and poetry. But I have also sought, where possible, to… Read More

(London, Heinemann, 1964). No dustwrapper, pp. vii + 309. South African literature. 'In the beehive huts of a crumbling Zulu tribal village a small white boy is brought up - as an albino.' .

(London, Heinemann, 1964). No dustwrapper, pp. vii + 309. South African literature. 'In the beehive huts of a crumbling Zulu tribal village a small white boy is brought up - as an albino.' .

(Johannesburg: Bateleur Press, 1980) 0620022868. Author's presentation inscription to half-title. 8vo; original brown rexine, lettered in gilt on spine; pictorial dustwrapper; pp. 172 + (ii). Dustwrapper sunned on spine panel, slightly edgeworn, with tape repairs to reverse; slight bump to top fore-corner of upper board; earlier bookseller's label to front free endpaper; regular browning throughout; trace of foxing to endpapers. Good to very good condition. "Rose Zwi treats her characters with realism yet with an unusual tenderness that somehow endows them with stature. She describes their raw, unprepossessing suburban background, renders scenes familiar, makes us share her affection for them, and accomplishes something unexpected yet essential for the human record of Johannesburg." .

(Cape Town, The Argus Printing and Publishing Co., 1916). Original stiff wraps, slightly worn, pp. 223. Binding slightly slack, edges slightly foxed. South African literature. Cover title reads: Art. 137. South African stories; Suidafrikaanse verhalen. Jeppe was born in Germany in 1858 and died Pretoria 1933. He was a jurist, businessman and politician. 'Jeppe was a talented writer. In The kaleidoscopic Transvaal (Johannesburg, 1906) he recollected the early days of the Transvaal. His volume of short stories, written in turn in English and Dutch, which appeared as Article 137 - Artikel 137, dealt with the different aspects of the language conflict. ...' (Dictionary of South African biography, Vol. II). .

(Johannesburg: Dagbreek, no date c. 1950s, First Edition). Illustrated by Hilda Stevenson-Hamilton. 8vo; original blue cloth; price-clipped pictorial dustwrapper; pp. 112. Dustwrapper reinforced with tape; browning throughout. Name of previous owner on front free endpaper. Good condition. English text. "The central figure of the present work is a hound, an animal of outstanding size and sagacity, modelled, the author assures us, on one formerly owned by himself; and I am sure readers will find the exploits and adventures of Ashambeni and his master, Maskakatsi, as engrossing as those of Shangani. The period is the same: namely that during which the Zulu general Manukosi, having with his impi broken away from his overload Chaka the Zulu Napoleon, had established himself in Gazaland (now part of Portuguese East Africa), and, following the example of Shaka, employed himself in the subjugation of all the surrounding tribes. This book deals with a fascinating period of Southern African history,… Read More

(London, Macmillan, 1972). Pictorial dustwrapper, pp. 192. Text-edges lightly foxed. Novel. 'Athmani was a happy young man. He was born in the year of the great flood in a small African village on the banks of the Lawana river. His mother kept a small trading store. His wise old father sat all day in the sun, plaiting straw mats and counting the interest which had accrued on his nagging wife's dowry, wisely invested. [???] Athmani loved life. He ran a transport service on the river and carried anything that paid, whether corpses or the District Commissioner. ...' .

(Johannesburg, Ad. Donker, 1982). Publication no. 7 of the Centre for S.A. Theatre Research, Human Sciences Research Council. 8vo; original purple boards; laminated pictorial dustwrapper; pp. 126. Edges of boards very lightly rubbed; slight edgewear and rubbing to dustwrapper. Very good condition. "Athol Fugard is, internationally, South Africa's best-known dramatist and, as one of the founding fathers of contemporary South African theatre, one of particular importance both to students of the art and to those with a more general interest in its recent development. Fugard has been central in the creation of a distinctive - and distinct - South African 'voice' in theatre: a voice which owes its character to a fusion of the expressiveness of Afrikaans theatre with the universality of the English language and the searing experience and unconventionality of Black theatre. It is in recognition of the position that he holds in the history of South African drama that this guide to what… Read More

(London: Jonathan Cape, 1927). Second impression. 8vo; original olive green cloth, lettered in gilt on spine; pp. 288. Ownership inscription, dated March 1927, to front pastedown. Spine very slightly cocked, with trace of wear to extremities; a little fishmothing to edges of boards; light foxing to edges and endpapers, occasional fox spot elsewhere. Good condition. "The 'strange, austere, tender, and ruthless talent' (in Bennett's memorable phrase) revealed in these stories [The Little Karoo] ensured their success; almost equally successful was her novel The Beadle (1926), also set in the Little Karoo - in the isolated Aangenaam Valley - and completed at Bennett's insistence." - Adey, et al: Companion to South African English Literature, p. 186 .

(Grahamstown: National English Literary Museum, 1989). NELM Introductions 1. Paperback (205 x 140 mm) pp. (iv) + 52, black-and-white photographs. Wraps a little browned on edges. Good to very good condition. .

(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… Read More

(Grahamstown: the author, 1938). Folio; original brown cloth, lettered in gilt on upper cover; pp. iv + 66 (typescript on rectos). Cloth somewhat mottled; bump to tail of spine; pages browned, a little foxed, and with pencilled annotations; staples holding textblock very rusted. Good. A pioneering work in its field, described on the title page as a 'tentative edition'. Seary was Lecturer in English at Rhodes University College, Grahamstown. "The following pages are an attempt to show what has been written in English by South African authors and who those authors are. ... By 'South African' author, I have understood a writer who has published work in South Africa, or who has been represented in South African anthologies, or who has been born in the country, or lived there during the greater part of his creative life. I have purposely omitted such writers as Rider Haggard and John Buchan, who have lived in and written about Africa, but who are conventionally regarded as… Read More

(Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2004) 1770090223. 210 x 148 mm; laminated pictorial wrappers; pp. 256. Wrappers very slightly creased and rubbed; occasional fox spot. Good to very good condition. "In the final analysis Boerejood is about the universal human struggle between good and evil, black and white, justice and injustice, love and hate - all that defines us as being human. It takes the reader on an astonishing and remarkable journey of discovery, the destination being the soul of the Afrikaner, and an answer to why these people accepted black majority rule with relatively no struggle, after years of racist persecution of their black and brown neighbours." .