This rare and sought-after book would repay its owner with restoration rather than repair. It is in three pieces held together by a clear plastic sleeve - (1) the multi-colour paper-board front cover, which is chipped but good, and paste-down, which is a lithographed advertisement for Wm Rawbone, \"practical gun maker\"; (2) back cover and plain endpapers, also in good condition, and 14 pp of advertisements; and (3) the rest, a secure book-block (broken but not detached between sections G and H) of viii + 330 pp + frontispiece and 24 other inserted folding maps and illustrations, mainly in colour + several folding tables + 18 further pp of advertisements.
The book is complete. The frontispiece - a large folding panorama of the City of Cape Town and Table Bay in 1886 - is in two pieces; but all the other folding maps, plans and photographic and other inserts are in position and undamaged.
The book is a rare treasure-house. Apart from the finely drawn maps and plans and the other excellent illustrations, the text itself is perhaps as authoritative as was possible for the time. Beween \"Discovery and early history\" and \"Statistics - population, revenue, commerce and customs tariffs\" are chapters including \"Cape woods and forests\" by W Heywood; \"The Cape as a health resort\" by various medical doctors; \"Diamond mining\" by Theodore Reunert; \"Land and agriculture\" by W Spilhaus; \"Ostrich farming\" by A Douglass; \"Viticulture\" by Professor Hahn; and \"Flora\" by H Bolus.
- Binding Condition: Poor
- Overall Condition: Fair but complete
- Size: 220 x 145
- Sold By: Fontein Books
- Contact Person: Richard Proctor-Sims
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 051 773 0050/048 079 546 4032
- Preferred Payment Methods: Eft (South Africa), SWIFT (rest of world), or $ checks for US or Australian buyers
- Trade Associations: AA Approved
