Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #114 begins on 11 Apr 2024

Abbe Henri Breuil

PHILIPP CAVE (1957) - edition limited to 1,330 copies

Volume two in the series "The Rock Paintings of Southern Africa"

Published: Abbé Breuil Publications, London, 1957

Edition: First Edition

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Publisher's turquoise cloth binding with gilt titles to the spine. Pictorial dust jacket.

Binding solid, contents clean. Jacket in good condition with some age-associated edge wear.

Volume two in the series "The Rock Paintings of Southern Africa".

"At the personal invitation of the late Field-Marshal Smuts, the Abbé Breuil, who has been described as the 'acknowledged and supreme authority on the interpretation of prehistoric art', went to South Africa in 1942 to begin a survey of the rock paintings of Southern Africa. In 1947, though then in his seventies, the Abbé undertook the first of many long expeditions in the field to study the paintings at first hand and to make tracings and copies from the rock face.

Philipp Cave is the second volume of  a series recording this remarkable work. It reveals an interesting and hitherto little-known frieze in the Erongo region of South-West Africa. In addition to some unusual, early drawings of animals in white, the frieze includes a 'Tall Man' whose stylised figure and Nilotic head caused him to be nicknamed the 'Pharaoh' by the Abbé and his companions. In the Abbé's view, this and other figures in Philipp Cave have a definite affinity with the paintings of the White Lady shelter in the Brandberg, some ninety miles to the north-west, which were the subject of the first volume.

The Abbé's original copies are reproduced in 31 plates by colour collotype and hand-stencil; 30 photographs, reproduced by collotype, document his copies. In all, there are 19 pages of reproductions, including one double page."

  • Jacket Condition: Very Good
  • Binding Condition: Fine
  • Overall Condition: Very Good
  • Sold By: Rare Paper
  • Contact Person: Armandt Marais
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 0741235861
  • Preferred Payment Methods: EFT, Bank Deposit. For International Customers: Paypal with 6% surcharge, International Transfer
  • Trade Associations: A. A. Approved


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