Ossewa Brandwag book offered online

This article was taken from Business Day on 6 March 2015.

Books dealing with turbulent preiods in South Africa history, the 1922 miner’s revolt and the attempts of the Ossewa Brandwag (OB) to foment unrest in SA during the Second World War, are among items on the Antiquarian Books online sale that started yesterday on www.antiquarianauctions.com/auction.

One book, Agter Tralies en Doringdraad, deals with the history of the OB, which resisted SA’s entry into the war and whose members were interned for their beliefs.

The OB, a parliamentary organisation with strong Nazi affiliations, came into being shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and presented a threat to the South African war effort. The organisation of the OB was based on the Nazi Stormtroopers (SS), the equivalent being the OB’s Stormjaers.

A number of acts of sabotage were committed and government agents were assassinated, including one Louis Nel, who was abducted in Bloemfontein and whose badly charred body was discovered near Nylstroom a few weeks later.

Another victim, “Dice” Lotter, was shot when he answered a knock on his front door.

Prominent figures in the OB including Robey Leibrandt, a former Olympic heavyweight boxer who planned to assassinate Glen Jan Smuts; Johannes van der Walt, a popular all-in wrestler known as the Masked Marvel; and John Vorster, later to become prime minister and state president of SA.

Van der Walt was shot while trying to escape arrest. The question of how he came to be shot in the back when the policeman responsible said Van der Walt had aimed his pistol at him has never been answered.

Possibly the most notorious member was Leibrandt, who was sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment, but who was freed after the 1948 election. Vorster was interned at Koffiefontein.

After the 1948 election, support for the OB dropped off and eventually it ceased to exist.

Publisher: BOPG, Stellenbosch, 1953, 1st edition, overall good condition.

Of interest too is a Light horse Cavalcade 1899-1961 by Harry Klein.

The Imperial Light Horse regiment (ILH) was formed at a secret meeting in Johannesburg in 1899 as a regiment to fight for the Uitlander cause. Sir Percy Fitzpatrick was one of the founder members.

During its history, the regiment saw active service in the Anglo-Boer War, the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906, the 1914 rebellion, the miners’ strike or rebellion in 1922 and in the Western Desert and Italian campaigns of the Second World War.

Many members of the ILH were at the Battle of Tobruk, described by some historians as the battle that was lost before it started.
Many members of the ILH were made prisoners of war.

Klein believes the loss of Tobruk was largely the result of the vacillation of British high command. Many of the defenders could have broken out through the German forces. Instead they were ordered to surrender. Because of indecision, the commanding officer, Gen Klopper, had little chance “of formulating decisive plans before the battle”.

When SA became a republic, the ILH changed its name to the Light Horse Regiment, and at a special ceremony, the Queen’s colours were laid up in St Mary’s Cathedral, Johannesburg.

Publisher: Timmins, Cape Town, 1969, 1st edition, condition good.

Of interest too are Carrie, by Stephen King, and The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger. Carrie, a scarce 1st UK edition, is King’s desirable first book and one of only 600 copies printed. It is scarcer than the US edition and is regarded as King’s scarcest trade edition.
Puiblisher: New English Library, London, 1974.

Edition: 1st UK. Overall a fine copy reserved at $1500.

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger is a first UK edition of what is described as a landmark American novel and one of the most important novels on the 20th century. It was published in the same year as the US edition.

This book being the first UK edition published by Hamish Hamilton in London in 1951 and is reserved at $1100.

Shahn (Ben) The Haggadah for Passover – Collotype production by Trianon Press, Paris & London, 1966. Published in France by the Trianon Press, Château de Boissia, Clairvaux, Jura, and 125 avenue du Maine, Paris. Estimate: $4000-$5000.

There is also a copy of the final edition of the Rand Daily Mail.