Anton Anreith Sculptor

In 1951, when this book appeared in an edition of 1000 copies, the publisher noted: "There is a great dearth of information about the subject, but here we have all the known facts of Anreith's life and [an appreciation] of all his known work against the colourful background of the Cape in the period from 1777 to 1822 . . . There are twenty-five illustrations, many of which appear for the first time."

The 2-col varnished dustjacket is rubbed and chipped, with the loss of about 6 cm2 of material at the head and foot. The blue cloth-boards, with darker blue lettering to the front and spine, are lightly stained at the top, and the spine extremities are very slightly rubbed. The plain endpapers are unmarked. The front endpaper is lightly foxed. The 64 pp of frontispiece, illustrated text and index are unmarked but with an occasional hint of foxing.

Writing from his Molteno home, the author - himself a sought-after artist [example: a small portrait of his was auctioned in Johannesburg for R130,000 last month] as well as a writer - notes: "Although this is a slender book, it covers all known material on South Africa's first European sculptor. It is the first book on him, the first artistic evaluation of his work and the first attempt to consider all his work or that attributed to him . . . All the photographs are from the Elliott Collection . . ."