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"The Kafirs Illustrated" Leather Bound Book from the Personal Library of Peter Hathaway Capstick

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:3,400.00 USD Estimated At:17,000.00 USD
 The Kafirs Illustrated  Leather Bound Book from the Personal Library of Peter Hathaway Capstick
FIONA CAPSTICK: THE KAFIRS ILLUSTRATED is one of the most important illustrated travel records concerning South Africa of the mid-19th century. The British author and artist, george Angas, spent 1847 travelling in South Africa, from the Western Cape to the heart of the Zulu Kingdom and the upper reaches of the St Lucia wetlands near the border with Portuguese East Africa. He kept a journal, sketching and painting as he travelled, observing and interacting with a great variety of cultures and peoples. This greatly sought after item of Africana is also a superb example of British lithographic printing at its best, as seen in the 30 full-color lithographic plates and the 11 wood engravings. Produced in imperial folio format, this book is in near fine condition. With handsome leather binding, marbled boards, pristine interior pages and blemish-free illustrations throughout, it is number 8 of only 100 such copies produced as the first and only exact facsimile new edition since the original appeared in 1847. Frank Bradlow, the noted authority on Africana, wrote the introduction to this new edition which also bears his signature. Peter Hathaway Capstick's calligraphy bookplate is further authentication of its provenance. Printed in Cape Town in 1974 by A.A. Balkema, the book is a hugely important historic and anthropological record. It is especially renowned for its accurate and detailed material on the Zulu people under King Mpande of the mid-19th century. The Zulus were great hunters and a much-respected warrior nation. George Angas also documented for Western science the existence of the handsome nyala antelope, seen for the first time in the St Lucia region, which bears his name - Tragelaphus angasii. The book is also famous for its plate on butterflies, documented by Angas for the first time while in the Zulu country. His plates on Zulu hunting parties and on Zulu warriors in full regalia are world renowned in the domain of African pictorial art and they epitomize what George Angas once said and what Peter Hathaway Capstick shared from his own earliest memories: "When a child, I dreamed of Africa." DALLAS SAFARI CLUB THANKS FIONA CAPSTICK FOR THIS 100% DONATION. Fiona Capstick, ralli@mweb.co.za