Catalogue of Valuable Africana etc, being the Collection of the late Sir Abe Bailey (annotated; 1950)

This catalogue, which lists 1744 lots, with several of them illustrated, is invaluable not only for the detailed description of the books and artworks of one of the leading Africana collectors of the mid-20th century, but for the record of the prices fetched (in guineas), inked in next to each of the lots by the original owner of the catalogue, Graham Botha, the former chief archivist of South Africa. (A comparison with prices received at auction and elsewhere sixty years later for some of the same titles in similar condition allows one to observe that one guinea [21 shillings] in 1950 had an approximate 2010 buying power of R400.)

The buff patterned card wraps, printed on two faces, are in near-original condition except for a grease spot 2 cm in diameter in the upper left corner of the front cover. The 122 large quarto pp + the frontispiece of the Rust-en-Vrede library + four other inserted plates illustrating 16 of the lots are all sound and undiscoloured and are marked only by Botha\'s neat pricing and other information in ink.

A previous owner had written \"not for sale\" in pencil on the frontispiece verso; and it is the present seller\'s hope that this copy will be bought to adorn and illuminate a similarly fine modern collection.