We publish texts relating to South Africa and Africana, including the VOC and the Cape.
Authors are invited to present their manuscripts for possible publication.
190 Pinewood Village
Tel: +27 (0) 21 532 7590
Cell: +27 (0) 83 415 7678
Please note that postage will be added to prices listed below if relevant.
Also selling Africana Books. Lists available on request.
Always been here: The story of a Stellenbosch Community
R240 | 234p. | ISBN 978-0-6399111-2-0
This is the story of brown South Africans as experienced in the Western Cape village of Stellenbosch.
From its beginning years burghers, slaves and a small number of free blacks built up Stellenbosch together. Even before 1700 they also jointly created a new language, Afrikaans. It is not far-fetched to see Stellenbosch as the cradle of practises which later became known as apartheid.
With this book, which first appeared in Afrikaans in 2007 under the title Nog altyd hier gewees, Hermann Giliomee has created a fascinating picture of our joint past. Slavery and suppression, the scandalous battle of Andringa Street and removal of brown people from Stellenbosch under apartheid laws, are scrutinised in detail.
With the arrival of the new demo-cracy in 1994 white, brown and black again became part of one village, although much of the pain of the past remains.
* Hermann Giliomee is a much awarded South African historian and the author or editor of many publications relating to the history of South Africa.
Giliomee writes a history that people are yearning to hear … And he does so in a masterly fashion. He does not only do the discipline of history a favour but he also makes a wonderful contribution to satisfy our yearning for a common community consciousness and social solidarity. — Allan Boesak, well-known clergyman and politician in a review of the original Afrikaans publication.
This book not only fills a void in the field of local history, but in the best tradition of historical writing, it also addresses wider political and social issues. — Prof. Albert Grundlingh, historian.
17 X 24 illustrations.
Die Stranding van die VOC-skip Schoonenberg: Struisbaai 1722
R225 | 160p. | ISBN 978-06399111-1-3
‘Ek bly op die skip so lank daar nog hout bo water is!’
Dít was die uitdagende woorde van skipper Albertus van Soest nadat die swaargelaaide VOC-skip Schoonenberg voor ligdag op 20 November 1722 by Struisbaai op die rotse geloop het. Sy bemanning het hom geïgnoreer en holderstebolder na die land gevlug.
Alle brondokumente uit die Kaapse argief is nou die eerste keer noukeurig nagegaan om die volle, boeiende verhaal van die stranding en van die wedervaringe van die skipbreukelinge te vertel. Die leser leer die skipper en sy bemanning ken, maar hoor ook die stemme van onder meer Goewerneur Mauritz de Chavonnes en sy amptenary, en van die Here XVII uit Nederland. Hendrik Klopper van Uilenkraal; Jacques Malan, stamvader van Suid-Afrika se Malans en wynboer van Morgenster, en sy buurman op Vergelegen, Jacob van der Heijde, word ook raakgeloop.
Die leser hoor hoe ou gerugte oor ‘n skat in Vergelegen se wingerde, in die twintigste eeu nuwe momentum gegee is deur romantiese Schoonenberg-verdigsels met die tema van ‘n verborge skat, intrige, moord en vergelding, en hoe dit byna die historiese waarheid verdring het.
Ten slotte word vertel hoe wrakduikers, amper toevallig, in die troebel waters van Northumberlandpunt by Struisbaai op oorblyfsels van ‘n wrak uit die tyd van die VOC afgekom het. Met inagneming van historiese aanduidings van die strandingsplek, kon hulle dit met net een skip verbind: die Schoonenberg.
Die boek bevat prente en kaarte, talle in volkleur.
Ontdekkingsreisiger of soldaat?
R225 | 189p. | ISBN 978-0-620-68346-3
Robert Jacob Gordon was van 1777 tot sy tragiese dood in 1795 bevelvoerder van die Verenigde Oos-Indiese Kompanjie se Kaapse garnisoen. In hierdie periode het hy in opdrag van die VOC vier ontdekkingsreise deur die nog ongerepte wildernis van Suider-Afrika onderneem, wat uitvoerig en op 'n lewendige manier deur die bekende Nederlandse historik Luc Panhuysen beskryf word. Veel aandag word hierby gegee aan Gordon as persoon, sy ontberinge en prestasies. Tydens een van sy reise het hy die Oranje Rivier na die Huis van Oranje vernoem.
Gordon was ’n kleurvolle persoonlikheid, en ’n vooraanstaande botanikus, soöloog, kartograaf en antropoloog.
Afrikaanse vertaling deur Wium van Zyl.
The two Africas of Francis Brettt Young
R270 | 394p. | ISBN 978-0-620-74625-0
Francis Brett Young (1884-1954) is remem-bered primarily as a prolific and highly respected novelist of the English Midlands. However, he also spent many years in sub-Saharan Africa. His novels set in East Africa and South Africa added a fascinating dimension to his copious literary output. Brett Young also wrote two nonfictional books about African topics. As a novelist of Africa, he had no equal in British literary history.
The Two Africas of Francis Brett Young, is the first detailed analysis of this fascinating side of his literary artistry. It focuses on his description of diverse indigenous African, European, and other ethnic groups in the two regions but also his representations of the variegated landscape.
Francis Brett Young was a unique literary voice whose works about Africa richly deserve the attention of scholars as well as readers interested in serious literature about this continent.
Ten paces behind: a family saga
R225 | 361p. | ISBN 978-0-620-69217-5
This book was written for members of the Rudner family and their friends. It is about Jalmar (a Swede) and his South African wife Ione Rudner. Besides their professions – one an architect and town-planner with the Cape Town municipality, the other a research assistant and editor at the South African Museum for 29 years - they were also amateur archaeologists, who undertook numerous archaeo-logical expeditions and many week-end field trips in Southern Africa.
They jointly wrote several books and many papers based on their archaeological work, as well as translation of nine by early Scandinavian travellers in Southern Africa. Their story relates numerous anecdotes on their experiences and people and places encountered during their travels.
Buhr van die Bokveld
R210 | 176p. | ISBN 978-620-66613-8
Hierdie bundel huldig Johann Jacob Buhr se werk meer as 75 jaar na sy dood op 20 November 1940. Hy was ‘n verrysende ster in die tyd toe die Afrikaanse joernalistiek volwassenheid begin bereik het, ná die taal amptelike status verkry het in 1925. Die digter I.D. Du Plessis, noem hom iemand ‘geseën met ‘n sprankelende intelligensie, fyn humorsin, en kwik-silwer-talent.’
Hy is op 26 September 1900 op die Bokveldse plaas Grasberg, ongeveer 15 kilometer van Nieuwoudt-ville, gebore waar hy ook groot dele van sy lewe gewoon het. Afrikaans het met sy vroeë dood ‘n gevoelige verlies gely. Vir Die Burger insiggewende en lewendige artikels oor verskeie onderwerpe. Hy ontwikkel tot ‘n briljante skrywer van sketse.
Sy drie Huisgenoot-artikels oor ‘Die verleidelikheid van ‘n diamant’ is steeds ‘n voorbeeld van goeie diepte-joernalistiek. ‘n Hoogtepunt en toonbeeld van tegniese vaardigheid is ‘Die perd van Attila,’ ‘n verhaal wat nie verouder het nie.
Hierdie bloemlesing is ‘n gepaste eerbetoon aan die skrywer, maar terselfdertyd aan die Afrikaanse joernalistiek. Ook vir die hedendaagse leser hou dit baie plesier in.
Among the Boers in peace and war
The adventures of a young Norwegian land-surveyor, who lived among the Boers in West-Transvaal and described their ways with humour and empathy. Nielsen befriended a number of Boer families and writes with great sympathy about their often tragic plight.
Appalled by the destruction of farms by the British forces and the incarceration of civilians in the infamous concentration camps, he joined the Boer forces in 1899. His descriptions of the military tactics, improvisations and onerous circumstances of the Boer fighters, and graphic details of epic battles such as those of Vlakfontein and Moedwil, vividly bring to life the people enmeshed in these conflicts.
At the end of the war Nielsen was captured and moved to a prisoner- of -war camp in Bermuda, where he remained until his release in July 1902, after which he returned to Norway.
A jewel of a (true) story about the Anglo Boer War. — Fransjohan Pretorius
Eighteen years in South Africa
R210 | 230p. | ISBN 978-0-620-58140-0
A young Swede’s dream to see the world as a sailor ended in 1877 when his three-masted ship, the Ellen Browse, was wrecked on the South African coast near East London. He could not have foreseen the adventures that he would experience thereafter as a soldier in the Ninth Frontier War, the Zulu War of 1879 and the Basuto Gun War, nor that he would make his fortune mining for gold and diamonds at Barberton, Colesberg and Kimberley.
His first-hand, vivid and often amusing descriptions of events and people – soldiers, Boers, their leaders, Africans, mine magnates and Uitlander miners – encompassed the prevailing conditions between the two Boer Wars.
This is a fascinating book about important events in our South African history, from an unusual perspective. Highly recommended. — Prof. Jeff Peires.
Die aanslag op die Slaweskip Meermin
R210 | 170p. | ISBN 978-0-620-54596-9
Die reis in 1765-1766 van die VOC-slaweskip Meermin na Madagaskar is uniek in die geskiedenis van die slawehandel. Nadat 140 slawe op Madagaskar aangekoop is, het ‘n aantal mansslawe tydens die terugreis van die skip na die Kaap ‘n paar assegaaie in hande gekry, 'n deel van die offisiere en bemanning daarmee gedood, en die oorblywendes, waarvan sommiges swaar gewond, dae lank in ‘n kajuit gevange gehou. Die skip het intussen rondgedryf, aan stroom en wind oorgelewer, en het later op die kus van Struisbaai vergaan.
Hierdie boek, volledig gebaseer op argiefdokumente, bevat die eerste omvat-tende beskrywing van die gewelddadige oorname van die Meermin, ‘n desperate stryd op die oop see om vryheid en oorlewing. Dit is die dramatiese verhaal van slawe wat heldhaftig veg vir hulle vryheid, van bloedvergieting, dood, en van bedrog en verraad.
‘n Oorsig van die destydse Kaap word ook gegee en onder meer aandag geskenk aan die herkoms van Kaapse slawe, hoe hulle in slawerny beland het, waarmee hulle gekoop is, waarvoor en hoekom die Kompanjie slawearbeid gebruik het en hoe teen slawe opgetree is wanneer hulle die wette van hul eienaars oortree. Een hoofstuk word gewy aan ander slawe-opstande ter see.
The taking of the slaver Meermin, 1766
R210 | 159p. | ISBN 9780-620-58141-7
In February 1766 while the slaver Meermin was returning to Cape Town from Madagascar with 140 slaves, some male slaves got hold of a number of their native spears, killed most of the officers and crew on deck and trapped the remainder, some of them badly wounded, in a cabin in the stern of the ship.
The fight raged for days, while the ship was carried helplessly along by wind, current and tide, until it ran aground near Cape Agulhas. This first complete account of the violent uprising on the hooker Meermin, entirely based on archival records, describes a desperate struggle on the open sea for freedom and survival.
The dramatic tale of courage, bloodshed, endurance, death, deceit and betrayal, also sheds light on the economic and social conditions at the Cape at the time. Details are given about the origins of Cape slaves, why and under what circumstances they became slaves, with what they were bought, how they were transported, treated and employed by the Cape government, and how they were punished when they transgressed its laws.
Slave Trade with Madagascar / Slawehandel met Madagaskar
Piet Westra, James C. Armstrong
R240 | 165p. | ISBN 0-620-37367-9
The fascinating story of a Cape slaver which brought 179 slaves from Madagascar. The book contains the original Dutch trade journals of the two merchants on board with a complete English translation, extensive introduction and notes.
Illustrated with a number of pictures and maps in full colour. Introduction in Afrikaans and English.
Di Koningen fan Skeba
R180 | 98p. | ISBN 0-620-23323-0
'n Faksimilee-herdruk van die roman Di Koningin van Skeba deur S.J. du Toit wat in 1898 vir die eerste keer verskyn het. Dit is voorsien van ‘n nuwe inleiding oor die lewe en werk van die skrywer deur Dorothea van Zyl, terwyl Fritz Ponelis die taal van die boek en die rol wat Du Toit in die totstandkoming van Afrikaans gespeel het beskryf. Die boek is mooi uitgelê met talle illustrasie. Dit was die eerste historiese roman in Afrikaans.
Tonele uit ons dorp
R210 | 222p. | ISBN 978-0-620-39451-2
Hierdie sketse oor toestande in en karakters uit die Karoodorp Hanover is geskryf deur T.F. Burgers (1834-81), een van die kleurrykste en talentvolste figure in die 19de eeuse Suider-Afrika.
Burgers het veral bekend geword as President van die Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek, gedurende 1872-77. Sy sketse het oorspronklik in 1866-69 in die koerant Het Volksblad verskyn, toe hy dominee in Hanover was. Hy was 'n vlymskerp satirikus en beskryf gebeurtenise en persoonlikhede op die dorp op 'n meesterlike manier.
Die boek is saamgestel en geredigeer deur Wium van Zyl.
R180 | 193p. | ISBN 0-86968-068-4
Afrikaanse Gedigte (Paarl Drukpers, 1906) bevat ‘n keur uit die gedigte wat tydens die Eerste Afrikaanse Taal-beweging (1876-1906) in die Afrikaanse Patriot en Ons Klyntji verskyn het. Hierdie fasimilee-herdruk is in 1987 deur die Suid-Afrikaanse Biblioteek uitgegee, met ‘n nuwe inleiding deur prof Roy Pheiffer.
Hierdie land van leuens
R120 | 160p. | ISBN 0-620-29475
Leipoldt se briewe uit die Kaapkolonie het oorspronklik van Mei 1900 tot Otober 1901 in die Amsterdamse koerant Het Nieuws van de Dag verskyn. As Kaapse kolonialer gee Leipoldt sy indrukke hierin weer van die Anglo-Boere-oorlog.
Wium van Zyl het die briewe na Afrikaans vertaal en van ‘n uitvoerige inleiding en voetnote voorsien.
Con de Wet, Leon Hattingh, Jan Visagie
R350 | 575p. | ISBN 978-4853-0019-9
'n Span van 17 deskundige gee in hierdie boeke ‘n omvattende en nuwe siening van die VOC se dikwels omstrede bydrae tot die ontstaan en ontwikkeling van Suid-Afrika soos ons dit vandag ken.
Die nalatenskap van die VOC se handelsryk is steeds relevant vir ‘n gebalanseerde begrip van ons histories wortels. Die koloniale tydperk aan die Kaap die Goeie Hoop van 1652 word in hierdie boek in al sy aspekte op ‘n boeiende manier omskryf.
Protea Boekhuis. 575p. Hardeband. Illus. en kaarte.
The Khoikhoi at the Cape of Good Hope
R280 | 84p. | ISBN 0-86968-104-4
This is a collection of 27 drawings and sketches discovered at the South African Library during 1986. They are the earliest realistic illustrations of the original inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope and are prized for their accuracy.
With the extensive introduction and the English trans-lations of the original annotations of the pictures, this book provides a unique social history of the late seventeenth century of the Cape.
SA Library. 22x20cm. 84p. Hard cover plus dust jacket.
On top of Table Mountain: remarkable vistors over 500 years
R250 | 296p. | ISBN 978-0-620-727
The fascinating story of 27 people who climbed the Table Mountain since 1503, and recorded their experience. These included Wouter Schouten, Anders Sparrman, Carl Peter Thunberg, Francois de Viallant, Willliam Burchell, Lady Anne Barnhard, Magareth Herschell, Jan Smuts and Edwin Cameron. Apart from their stories this well-illustrated book gives a most interesting general overview of amongst others astronomers and matimaticions taking on the mountain, flower hunters and women reaching the top.