Tretchikoff (1969)

Timmins, Howard

Description:

Born in Russia, Vladimir Griegorovich Tretchikoff spent most of his 93-year lifespan in South Africa, which he reached after wartime years in Java in the mid-1940s. Long ignored or derided by the so-called South African art establishment, Tretchikoff for many years earned more from his art in his lifetime than any painter since Picasso. Although written and published 37 years before his death, Timmins's admiring and admirable book features much of the artist's most famous work. Tretchikoff's Cape Town friends included Timmins himself, here unusually author and publisher, Stuart Cloete, who contributed the foreword and Anton Rupert, for whom he designed the Rembrandt logo in 1948.

Marred only by minor repairs to the dustjacket, this elephant folio format book is otherwise unmarked and in pristine condition. The grey cloth-boards, with Tretchikoff's signature in black on the front cover, are as-new, as are the black endpapers, double at the front with a deep-etched frontispiece photograph of the artist's head, and single-sided at the back. The unnumbered pages comprise 12 pp of illustrated prelims and introduction on smooth wove stock and 96 pp of colour reproductions of the painter's work on gloss art paper. In short, a desirable copy.

Details:

  • Publisher: Howard Timmins and Harrap
  • Publisher Place: Cape Town and London
  • Date of Publication: 1969
  • Edition: First
  • Jacket Condition: Good +
  • Binding Condition: Near Fine
  • Overall Condition: Near Fine
  • Size: 495 x 370
  • Lot No: 11
  • Hammer Price: $244
  • Bids: 7
  • Visits: 289
  • Estimate: $400
  • Reserve: $200

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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.