A BUSHMAN DICTIONARY

773 pages, grey printed card wrappers – paperback, a very good copy

From the introduction by Professor J.A. Englebrecht: .This publication marks the culminating point of a 'family' research which extended over almost an entire century, for it was in 1857 or thereabouts that Dr. W.H. Bleek, eminent philologist and father of the late author, began to apply himself to the study of Bushmen. At that period so little was yet known about these languages that the importance of this new step did not become manifest until much later; at first, therefore, it implied that Dr Bleek would, as before, devote himself to Bantu and Hottentot, only interrupting his studies whenever fresh information on Bushman came to hand.

As time wore on Dr Bleek became increasingly conscious of the exigencies of this new field of study, so that Bushman from being a mere diversion from is main occupations became the primary object of research …It was at this stage that the assistance of his sister-in-law and helpmate, Miss L.C. Lloyd, was of prime importance, and the part she played has perhaps never received adequate recognition…..Dorothea Bleek was well qualified to take over where her predecessors had left off. On her now devolved the self-imposed task of arranging and setting out what material had been handed down to her and of complementing this material by further field research. She fulfilled the one without neglecting the other '