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Hello and welcome to our fourth newsletter of 2010 and auction 2010/FOUR.

There are forty books on this auction, including ethnology, Zulu history, African art, biography, travel, history, politics, military & literature. I certainly hope that you will find something of interest. Auction four can be found at AUCTION 2010/FOUR I have already prepared auctions #5 & #6. #5 can be previewed on auction peview page and you can prepare your bids in advance of the auctions. This fourth newsletter contains an article on understanding the terms used in describing auction lots and broadly how to bid. It appears many of our readers are uncertain about bidding on the auction. The article follows the auction below. I had a number of interesting responses to last week's article on MAMISA and urge you, the reader to let me have material for publishing in our newsletter. I am sure to run out of material of my own shortly.

Auctions & Book Descriptions

In recent weeks I have had a number of emails and phone calls asking how our auction works, how payment can be effected and also what terms like "8vo" mean. So I thought I would write this article for the africana collectors out there.

Firstly, how do our auctions work ? As stated elsewhere, our auctions are unsophisticated. If you go to a major auction site, such as ebay (www.ebay.com) or auction explorer (www.auctionexplorerbooks.com you are firstly required to become a member and to sign on each time you wish to bid. You then bid by clicking on the relevant item and giving your low bid or high (proxy) bid. At the end of the auction, high bidder wins if the reserve has been met. Payment is then made directly to the seller and delivery arranged.

Our weekly auction is emailed to customers or is available to view on out web page. However this is not an interactive website and bidders need to contact me by email, sms or phone. Bidding is in South African Rands. The bidder does not need to be a "member". I prefer email bids and leave the amount open to the bidder as long as it is reserve or higher. I always confirm receipt of bids and notify the bidder if I get a higher bid. Just as a matter of interest, I usually set the reserve price at about 30% to 60% of what I believe the actual value of the item to be. I accept proxy bids. A proxy works like this. Assume a reserve of R100.00 and that the bidder is prepared to pay R350.00. The bidder gives a clearly marked PROXY bid of R350.00. I enter their bid @ R100.00 or lowest available amount. If the current bid is @ R140.00 I will enter the bid @ R150.00 and so on. If the proxy amount is reached and passed I will email the bidder and notify him/her thus giving the opportunity to bid further.

The high bidder at the conclusion of the auction wins the lot and will be notified by email of the amount due includiing delivery costs. Payment can be made direct into our Nedbank Scottsville Branch, code: 134125, account no. 1341010570, name: ABC Bookshop. We also accept payment by Visa or Mastercard. Full number, expiry and security number can be emailed or phoned through. We do not accept PayPal. I hope that explains the method of our auctions.

Now for an explanation of some terms used in describing auction lots. Firstly, each title is given in colour font and is followed by an author (unless there is no author given). This is followed by place of publication, publisher details and date of publication. This is followed by edition. Then comes size. Size varies from folio (large format - usually over 33cm tall), 4to (between about 25cm & 33cm tall), 8vo (between about 18cm & 25cm tall), 12mo (between about 16cm & 18cm tall) & finally 16mo (less than 16cm tall). The size can also have a description such as "landscape" meaning that it is longer horizontally. After the size I describe the binding. Hardcover means it has boards (including skivertex, lamination, or pressed). Cloth is also a type of hardcover, as is leather. Quarter leather means spine and a strip alongside on front and back cover are leather bound, the balance of the book would be boards or cloth. Half leather has spine, strip as well as corners leather bound. Then we get "printer wrappers" or "card" covers. Printer wrappers is used to describe a pamphlet bound in the original flimsy printer paper covers (the paper thickness is less than card or modern paperback covers). Card covers could be equated with a modern papreback. Disbound means it never had covers or the covers are missing. Dust jacket is self explanatory Pagination is given with roman numerals preceding page "1" and given in brackets if page numbers are not actually printed. Engravings or illustrations are black & white unless stated "coloured."

Then we get such descriptions as frayed or hinges splitting, corners bumped, or faded. These terms apply to the binding. Hinges splitting usually refers to the inner hinges and if split, then the covers may be starting to come off. I use terms like starting or slightly to indicate severity of damage. Spine faded or sunned means that the colour is lighter than the covers. Shaken or loose means the text is loose in the binding or srtaring to work loose. Finally we get the terms stains, foxing and browning. Stains or stained means that water or some other liquid has affected the book, foxing refers to the small brown rust marks on text pages or dust jacket and browning refers to the age toning of white paper to yellow or brown.

I hope this is useful to the reader and makes book description and bidding easier to understand and more fun.

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Hello and welcome to our third newsletter of 2010 and auction 2010/THREE

There are forty books on this auction, including nature, archaeology, colonisation, legal, education, politics, religion & missions, history & biography. I certainly hope that you will find something of interest. I have already prepared auctions #4 & #5. They can be previewed on auction peview page and you can prepare your bids in advance of the auctions.

This third newsletter contains an article written by a customer (who is also a leading expert on Swaziland history). I would be pleased if you, the reader submit articles for forthcoming newsletters. Articles should not be too long and must not be advertising a product. If for instance you are researching cotton production in Victorian Natal and wish to write an article, this will be welcome and you are welcome to request readers to respond with information through me or directly to you. Likewise snippets about your family history are welcome. Discretion in terms of publishing such articles rests with me.

Auction #2010/THREE follows and the third article on Africana book collecting can be found after the auction. The subject is Publishing " Mamisa" of particular interest as we have a copy of the book on offer on this auction - see lot #13.

Our weekly auction (2010/THREE) starts now and finishes on Wednesday 3 February @ 1pm South African time. This is a fun auction but your bid is a commitment. Bids by email preferred, although we will accept telephone or sms bids as well. Increments of R10.00 minimum will be accepted. We accept proxy bids - give us your highest bid and we will try get the book as low as possible. If you enter a proxy bid please state PROXY BID otherwise we will accept your bid for the full amount offered. We apologise for the odd error or misunderstanding, but these auctions are unsophisticated and we do our best to satisfy everyone. Postage is additional to the hammer price if required, but VAT is included in the price. Auction 2010/TWO is still running and finishes @ 1pm on Wednesday 27 January. Progress of this auction and results of previous auctions can be viewed on our AUCTION web page

Publishing Mamisa

by Huw M. Jones

Allister Miller (1864-1951) was a journalist who first worked in southern Africa on the Cape Argus in 1887. In the following year he arrived in Barberton to work on the Gold Fields Times; in a very short time, he became secretary of the Swazieland Committee and worked in Swaziland in various capacities until his death. As founder, editor and publisher of The Times of Swaziland, Miller had his own printing business. In 1933, he published The Words of Mamisa and Other Stories written in a rather florid, Edwardian style; A Short History of Swaziland had been one of Miller’s first publications serialised in The Times of Swazieland in 1897. The Words of Mamisa was an octavo volume of [iv], 253 pages published in green cloth with a paper label on the front cover; it was typeset, printed and bound by the Swazi staff of the newspaper office in Mbabane in what must have been a very small run. The only copy listed on COPAC is the one presented by Miller to the Royal Empire (later Commonwealth) Society, now held by the library of the University of Cambridge; this seems to be one of only three copies held in public collections. The publisher’s blurb on the dustwrapper of the first impression of Mamisa, The Swazi Warrior (see lot #13 above) states that only three copies were published, but this is incorrect. Joanna Arnheim in her Swaziland, A Bibliography (1950) lists the book as being in the South African Public Library, but it does not appear in the current catalogue of the National Library of South Africa. In addition to ‘The Words of Mamisa, At One Time Nduna of the Regiments of the Amadambuza’ (pp.1-169), the other stories are ‘The Hostages’ (pp.170-225) and ‘The Zimu’ (pp.226-253). There is also one illustration, a photograph of ‘Mamisa, contemplative, takes Snuff’. It was taken by O. Tugwell in the 1920s; who had a curio shop in Mbabane from then into the 1950s. A keen photographer with only one arm, he recorded traditional life and sold the photos as postcards of which this was one – ‘Warrior taking snuff’.

On Miller’s death, his papers were presented to Killie Campbell by his widow Beatrice in 1954 and they included a copy of The Words of Mamisa. Killie was fascinated by Miller’s accounts of the history of Swaziland and had someone, who remains unidentified, to adapt the book for publication. The financing of the publication by Shuter and Shooter is unclear. It went for printing on 8 December 1954 and was published in January 1955. Many, including the British Library, catalogue the book as [?1933] since there was neither date of publication nor text to explain its origins in the book itself; an edited copy of the original preface was included and dated August 1933, together with the original dedication to R.T. Coryndon, Resident Commissioner of Swaziland from 1907 to 1915. The first impression of the first edition was published in orange speckled crash cloth with a dustwrapper designed by J.W. Grossert; the list price was 10/6d. It is an 8mo book of 269 pages. The publisher’s blurb on the inner edges of the dustwrapper contained a description of the story and a short note about Miller and how Killie Campbell considered that the story ‘should be offered to the public at large’. A second impression with an identical text block but a cover of black speckled crash cloth and a new dustwrapper designed by Barbara Tyrell (from a sketch which she made in 1948) was published later, the blurb containing only reviews by Alan Paton and four newspapers; the list price was still 10/6d which predates currency decimalisation in southern Africa in early 1961. In addition to editing the original preface, the story itself was heavily edited and it is not, in fact, a reprint. The chapter ‘Outlawed’ was split in the 1955 edition and the separate story ‘Zimu’ integrated with some of the text.

Shuter and Shooter next published Mamisa, iqhawe leSwazi, a translation in siZulu by G.R. Dent, G.W. Zulu of Dundee and J.A.W. Nxumalo of Eshowe. This was a 16mo book of 191 pages published in decorated paper over boards with a cloth spine; the figure of a warrior is in the style of Grossert. The book is dated ‘First impression 1957’, but the publisher’s records indicate that it was published in January 1958. It has subsequently gone through at least 11 impressions. The copy in the catalogue of the National Library of South Africa is listed as a paperback with an ISBN number and cannot be a first impression as described.

I thank Mr Jones, the leading expert on Swaziland and Vryheid district history for his contribution. It certainly throws some light on an interesting work of Africana. Should anyone wish to communicate with Mr Jones, I will be glad to pass on any communications to him. I would like to encourage readers to let me have similar specfic, incidental or anecdotal articles or essays on Africana subjects. It could prove a great forum for debate. If you wish to unsubscribe from our newsletter please respond REMOVE alternately if you are not yet on our mailing list please email ADD. If you do not receive our weekly newsletter by the Thursday of the week, please send an email requesting a copy be sent. Also remember you can view the auctions on our auction page, preview the next auction on our preview page and check out the newsletter you missed, together with the week's article on our newsletter page. Addresses are hi-lighted at the beginning of the newsletter. I have removed all auctions prior to December 2009 and placed them on a separate OLD AUCTION page (this is still viewable). This speeds up the opening of our current auction page. I believe there may be some internet problems at the weekend - please phone my cell if you cannot get emails through.

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Welcome to Newsletter and Auction #2010/TWO dated 20 January 2010

There are forty-two books in this auction, including reference, education, politics, health, cookery, ethnology, literature, military, botany and zoology. I certainly hope that you will find something of interest. I have already prepared auctions #3 & #4. They can be previewed on auction peview page and you can prepare your bids in advance of the auctions. This second newsletter contains an article written by me for your interest. I have an article by a customer (who is also a leading expert on Swaziland history) for next week's newsletter. I would be pleased if you, the reader submit articles for forthcoming newsletters. Articles should not be too long and must not be advertising a product. If for instance you are researching cotton production in Victorian Natal and wish to write an article, this will be welcome and you are welcome to request readers to respond with information through me or directly to you. Likewise snippets about your family history are welcome. Discretion in terms of publishing such articles rests with me. The articles and newsletter will be published on our newsletter page Auction #2010/TWO follows and the second article on Africana book collecting can be found after the auction. The subject is Signatures and Inscriptions in books Our weekly auction (2010/TWO) starts now and finishes on Wednesday 27 Progress of this auction and results of previous auctions can be viewed on our AUCTION web page

Signatures and Inscriptions in books

Great fun ! I somehow managed so lose the complete article that took a couple of hours to write, so I am having to re-write it from scratch. It will of necessity be briefer this time round. Well, this article on Africana book collecting concentrates on signatures and inscriptions in books and how this affects the value of the books concerned. These are among the most frequently asked questions of booksellers.

Let's begin with ownership signatures and gift inscriptions. Broadly this includes an owner's signature (and sometimes, date and address) or gift inscriptions (often by a family member to another), for example "To Uncle Pete from your loving nephew, Jimmy, February 1982" or a prize inscription: "Second prize for bible studies, Harrismith, 1922." Generally speaking these sort of signatures or inscriptions do not add to a book's value, but often detract from the value, depending on the size or neatness. One instance where an ownership signature may have value is if the owner is a famous person, such as Winston Churchill or Nelson Mandela.

Now we come to author signatures. It is always nicer to have an author autographed copy of a book. However this does not necessarily increase the value of the book by very much. Much depends on the scarcity of the signature and fame of the author, as well as the importance of the book. The "Autobiography of Dennis Slotow" signed by him would not add much to the basic book value. However, a signed copy of "Long walk to freedom" by Nelson Mandela would increase in value from about R300.00 to over R10000.00. Likewise a signed copy of the first edition of "Dusklands" by J.M. Coetzee would be worth a few thousand rand as against less than a thousand unsigned. Coetzee did not autograph many copies of his books. An example of an author signature on the next auction is that of F.W. Ahrens (lot #26) in his own copy of the book, with corrections in his hand. Limited or deluxe editions of books signed by the author are also more valuable than standard, unsigned copies, as the signed edition is strictly limited.

What is the difference between a signature and an author presentation? An author presentation personalises the book. See the signed inscriptions on the current auction by Alan Paton (lot #30) and John Hewitt (lot #42). It is far more interesting for a collector if the book is inscribed to him/her by the author and signed, but this does not necessarily mean it has more value than a signature alone. However if the book is inscribed to an associate, famous or relevant person then it could increase the value considerably. An inscribed & signed copy of "The Boer War" by Arthur Conan Doyle to General Louis Botha would be of special significance and add greatly to the value of such a book.

Finally, two things to be careful of. Firstly inscriptions like "Presented to my friend John by the author" means very little (unless the handwriting can be authenticated). Secondly, talking of authenticity, it is sometimes difficult to authenticate an author signature, so be careful. But I must say collecting autographs or interesting inscriptions can be very rewarding.

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Welcome to Newsletter and Auction #2010/ONE dated 11 January 2010.

There are forty books in this week's auction, including items on people, places, exploration, Natal, theology, history, printing & reference. I have already prepared auctions #2 & #3. They can be previewed on auction peview page and you can prepare your bids in advance of the auctions. As an innovation our newsletter will whenever possible contain an article written by me or customers, researchers, librarians, on Africana collecting. I welcome your submissions. Articles should not be too long and must not be advertising a product. If for instance you are researching cotton production in Victorian Natal and wish to write an article, this will be welcome and you are welcome to request readers to respond with information through me or directly to you. Likewise snippets about your family history are welcome. Discretion in terms of publishing such articles rests with me. I am not including the details of our auction here as it takes up a good deal of space. Auction #2010/ONE may be viewed on the AUCTION web page. The first article on Africana book collecting follows. The subject is Early Printing in South Africa

Early Printing in South Africa

This article is for beginners in the field. The earliest printing was done in Cape Town in the late 1700s. Most of the early printings were either of an official nature (almanacs, forms & handbills) or spiritual (Christian doctrine, sermons, etc.). A facsimile of four of the earliest printings can be found on our current auction, lot #38. The Cape Town Gazette, the first serial type publication was published in 1801. Cape almanacs or directories in various guises appeared from about 1801 onwards until the end of the 19th century and are a great source of material on such items as administration, costs, charges, names of officials as well as names and addresses of people staying in Cape Town and later over a wider area. By the 1830s there were a number of books, pamphlets, newspapers and magazines being published in Dutch and English on a regular basis. A great source book for the early Cape printings is by P.W. Laidller The pre-Victorian products of the Cape Press (1935). One book from this period that I feel needs special mention is Suasso de Lima's Geschiedenis van de Kaap de Goede Hoop (1825), the first history of the Cape. Also from this period is Het Nederduitsch Zuid-Afrikaansch Tijdschrift published between 1824-1834, the first magazine in South Africa - see lot #37 on the current auction for a complete volume for the second year of publication.

Of great interest in the history of printing in South Africa was the fight for freedom of the press by Greig, Fairbairn & Pringle in the 1820s. This story has been told by Thomas Pringle in his Narrative of a residence in South Africa (1834) and you can read about this fight and more details on the history of printing in South Africa in The spread of printing. Eastern hemisphere: South Africa (1971) by Anna Smith of the Africana Museum - we have a copy in stock @ R650.00.

The second phase of printing in South Africa was the spread of printing by the missionaries. This also brought to light African langauages, as dictionaries, grammars, bibles, hymnals and other religious works were printed by missions in the various African languages. Dr van der Kemp printed the earliest mission printings in Bethelsdorp in the early 1800s but Robert Moffat is perhaps more famous for his printing press at Kuruman. His first printings date from the early 1830s. Lovedale Press was active from about that time until well into the 20th century. Some of the scarcest africana publications came from mission presses, as they were usually flimsy, on poor quality paper and usually small print runs.

The same applies to early printing in Grahamstown, Natal, Kimberley and Johannesburg. The earliest publications in these "metropolitan" areas were usually more or less "vanity" prinitng, on primitive presses and on poor quality paper. Another interesting beginning was the birth of Afrikaans in the 1870s and printing in Paarl in the western Cape also on poor quality paper. This makes these publications very scace or almost unique.

No article on printing in South Africa could leave out military or wartime printing. Apart from some eastern Cape frontier printing, the most interesting wartime printing took place during the Second Anglo-Boer War. Really interesting and scarce printing was done in siege towns such as Ladysmith, Mafeking, Kimberley & Pretoria. Newspapers, posters, magazines and booklets were printed. Such newspapers as The Mafeking Mail, the Ladysmith Lyre and the Pretoria Friend give researchers a good deal of information on these places under siege or occupation. Anna Smith devotes a brief chapter to militaty printing.

I hope you have learnt something from thiis article on early africana. Best wishes for 2010

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