Ex Africa (1937)

Sauer, Hans

Description:

This is a very good copy of a rarely found book from the 1930s.

The red cloth-boards, gilt to spine, are sunned at the top of the front cover and the spine but the spine logo and lettering are still clear (see image). The binding is firm and the book-block, tinted gold at the top edge and untrimmed at the bottom edge, is complete, unfoxed and sound. There is a bookseller sticker on the front paste-down and a violet stamp "This volume is supplied for sale in the Dominions only" on the back paste-down, but otherwise the plain endpapers are unmarked and unfoxed. The vii + 355 pp of text and index + frontispiece and 11 other inserted monochrome plates + folding map are all present and in better than very good condition.

The book makes vivid reading, from the opening "I was born in the town of Smithfield, situated in the south-eastern part of the Orange Free State, at that time an independent Boer Republic" through the history of the Griquas and how Adam Kok III acquired his tall hat and chapters including Hunting Expeditions, The Great Smallpox War, The Making of Johannesburg, The Road to the North, Rhodes's Third Private War and The Indaba of the Matopos.

The illustrations, too, are well chosen and include The Nachtmaal, Johannesburg in 1886 and To-day, The Author and a Rhinoceros, Boers on Commando and A Coach Travelling North.

 

Details:

  • Publisher: Geoffrey Bles
  • Publisher Place: London
  • Date of Publication: 1937
  • Edition: First
  • Binding Condition: Good +
  • Overall Condition: Very Good
  • Size: 248 x 170 x 40
  • Lot No: 314
  • Hammer Price: $45
  • Bids: 1
  • Visits: 83
  • Estimate: $65
  • Reserve: $45

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Seller Details:

  • Name: Fontein Books
  • Address: 27 Voortrekker Street, Philippolis 9970
  • Contact Person: Richard Proctor-Sims
  • Country of Origin: South Africa
  • Email: fontein@wol.co.za
  • Website:
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Internet bank transfer or Visa or Mastercard
  • Trade Association: AA Approved
  • Additional Information: Fontein Books has for several years participated in Antiquarian Auctions and its predecessor. It specialises in historical and contemporary books on the Free State and Northern Karoo, and is also an active buyer and seller on commission in these and other fields. Fontein's owner, Richard Proctor-Sims, was an editor, writer and small publisher until 2005, when he moved from Johannesburg to Philippolis, the first settlement (1822) north of the Gariep or Orange River, where he opened his first physical bookshop (to which buyers and sellers are welcome), with reasonable holdings in Africana, both Anglo-Boer wars, biography, history, military history, natural history and travel. He regularly visits Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and offers to deliver heavy or valuable books or sets to these cities on such visits. Richard Proctor-Sims retains the copyright of Fontein's Antiquarian Auction descriptions and these may not be reproduced without permission and acknowledgment.