Africana

At five o clock in the afternoon of Saturday 19 December 1925, a wisp of smoke was seen to rise lazily from the thatched roof near the kitchen of the Groot Constantia Manor House. Moments later the huge thatch roof caught fire creating an uncontrollable inferno. With no brandsolder to contain the flames, the blaze crashed through to the boarded ceilings of the rooms below and through that to the main floor. Other than bare blackened walls and gables, nothing of the historic wooden roof beams, ceilings, heavy wood lintels, wooden doors, window frames and built-in cupboards survived this great fire. Furthermore, a great deal of the internal wall plastering damaged by the extreme heat peeled off and continued doing so because of subsequent exposure to the elements.

As architect Franklin Kendall FRIBA, entrusted by the Public Works Department in 1926 to restore this Manor House states in his book, The Restoration of Groot Constantia, ‘A more complete burn out could scarcely be imagined’. At the time, the destruction of this, the most historical farm house in South Africa, caused profound dismay, but in retrospect it may have been a blessing in disguise. The restoration of this Manor House, ably and sensitively overseen by Kendall, bar one possible criticism, offered opportunity to examine the layout of the original building and identify the extensive alterations and additions of the preceding centuries.

Fortunately, all the outbuildings escaped this fire and are therefore either part of the original estate, or date from...

Ordinances of the Transvaal 1903, 1904 and Statutes of the Transvaal 1907. Whoever wants to look at old, dry, dusty, obsolete law books? Law books date, they take up space on shelves and laws are repealed. Legal language is precise and unemotional. The Transvaal ceased to exist in 1994 and today a completely different provincial government structure has replaced the pre 1994 arrangement of four all white driven apartheid provinces and the 10 bantustans.

But step back in time and old law books acquire an antiquarian and historical interest and become yet another prism through which we can attempt to understand the past. Laws, ordinances and statutes are  building blocks of an orderly society. They are an expression of the norms and values of a society at a particular point in time. Laws embody the canons of justice. They give authority to the executive arm of government in matters large and small. A society without law shifts into an anarchic state. Laws enable government to implement policies, ideologies and principles. Law gives expression to changed circumstances in societies.

It is the bread and butter of lawyers to read law books but the layman can broaden his reach and grasp by also trying  to read a law book or two.

I recently dropped in on a sale of a deceased private collection of Africana and history books. Buying three old law books dating back to the early 20th century was not my first choice as I gathered up a miscellaneous but appealing selection of books. At R40 for a hard cover here was an opportunity not to be missed. Then...

An advantage of book auction sales is that they renew the stream of collectable books coming onto the market and give a fresh spurt to book collecting. New book collectors are encouraged to join the book community. Old book collectors have the opportunity to acquire that elusive appealing title on the wish list. There is nothing quite like the excitement of bidding on an auction sale for a desired treasure, and the market deciding who will be the fortunate new owner. My heartbeat rises when I bid on auction sales and I wonder if everyone around me can hear the pulse when they all look so calm and nonchalant.  

Here is just such an opportunity coming up in Cape Town, though no doubt bidders will need to have deep pockets.

Auction notice

Stephan Welz & Co esteemed auctioneers in Cape Town will be holding a large auction sale on 4-5 February 2019, at the Old Mutual conference centre, Kirstenbosch. Click here to view online catalogue. Of particular interest to heritage enthusiasts and book collectors is the  sale of the collection of the late bibliophile and former SA diplomat, S J F Botha (Frikkie Botha), session 2 of this sale to be held on the afternoon of 4th Feb 2019. The collection can...

It is a pity that artistically designed bookplates or ex libris as they are referred to in Europe, have fallen into relative disuse in South Africa. Antiquarian bookdealers have long known that a well-designed bookplate adds not only to the appearance and interest, but also to the monetary value of a rare book.

By him who bought me for his own,
I’m lent for reading leaf by leaf;
If honest you’ll return the loan, 
If you retain me you are a thief.

How many of us have uttered similar sentiments when lending out a book, suspecting it will not be returned? This is exactly what a bookplate is supposed to prevent.  

But what is a bookplate, or ex libris?

In plain terms a bookplate is a print, drawing or watercolour designed by an artist, usually affixed on the inside cover of a book, as identification mark of its ownership. Over time bookplates have become objects of interest and desire to collectors. Many bookplates are works of art, owned by prominent people and often reveal their interests and characteristics.

The Latin phrase ‘ex libris’ meaning, ‘from the books of’, is far more appealing than the practical term ‘bookplate’, but both terms are usually applied interchangeably.

In Europe, the making of ex libris started shortly after the beginning of book printing, somewhere around the last quarter of the fifteenth century. The inspiration for making them arose from the medieval practice of identifying the ownership at the front of illuminated Books of...

[Originally published in 2015] I recently acquired a fascinating item of Johannesburg Africana. It is a pamphlet publication of the 1913 strike and disturbances on the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg. It's a slight document of 32 pages including four pages of period adverts published by the Central News Agency. Was it a newspaper insert or sold by the CNA? Coverage includes the story of the strike, a casualty list, a Johannesburg central district map of the "area of disturbance" and 14 pages of contemporary black and white photographs.

Pamphlet Publication of the 1913 Strike

The events took place from late May 1913 to early July. The account in this small pamphlet has a journalistic immediacy of "the man on the spot" observations of what happened, why and what were the consequences. It's a fairly even handed factual analysis, but comes down heavily on the side of law and order and condemns the anarchy of public disturbance and violence.

There were 21 deaths of miners and bystanders, though organized labour made much of the panoply of public mourning and a grand funeral. Almost all deaths were the result of rifle fire by the military or police. Some people killed, such as a pianist, a photographer, a dentist's apprentice and two commercial travellers were unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught in the cross fire.

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A visit to one of the top libraries of the world, the private Africana library of the Oppenheimer family, the Brenthurst Library (by appointment only) is more than a treat. For a bibliophile one feels as though one has had the happy experience of dying and being directed to heaven. Located off the M1, at the lower end of the grand Oppenheimer estate in Parktown, Johannesburg, this distinguished library is all a world class private library could possibly be from the tranquil garden setting to the treasured volumes viewed on fine, eye level, wooden, free standing bookcases. The subdued lighting from shaded green library lights at comfortable table is just right for reading. The attention to functional detail as well as the magnificent presentation of the collection of books, artworks and maps creates the perfect ambience of the ultimate gentleman's library. The comparison has to be with the JP Morgan library in New York or the Chester Beattie Library and Museum in Dublin. I visited the library this week and needed to pinch myself to decide I was still alive and be reminded that Johannesburg indeed has some hidden delights.

The tranquil garden setting (Kathy Munro)

Scholars and researchers on areas of historical specialization of the library are welcomed, once credentials have been provided. There are security checks. Anyone working in fields such as mining history, Johannesburg history, South African history, cartographic history...