A HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM 1825-1975

Publisher's brown cloth binding with gilt titles on front panel and spine.

ix + 245pp. Illustrated.

Binding solid. Contents clean. Jacket in very good condition.

'The South African Museum was established in 1825 and is the oldest public museum in the country.

The story begins with the somewhat haphazard building of natural history and cultural collections, with contributions of live and other specimens from many sources, official and otherwise: as the official notice of the then Governor put it " . . . being convinced, from various sources, of the endless diversity and novelty of the natural products of this Colony . . . "

Dr Andrew Smith was the first Superintendent appointed - first in a long line of able and devoted educationalists and scientists who have guided the Museum to its respected status of today.

This is a story of increasingly complex work undertaken in the fields of biology, anthropology, archaeology, palaeontology and other specialised branches of the earth and life sciences - work that is supported by a fine reference library and by scholarly publications.

The story of the Museum is told mainly in terms of the personalities involved - as talented, eccentric and able a collection of administrators and scientists as can be imagined: behind the Museum's solid, institutional walls have lived and worked the people who are the subject of this history, involved in plans and incidents that are often dramatic and intriguing.' - editor's note