JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD (presentation copy from the author)

Illustrated by E. Caldwell

First edition Tenth impression. 475 pages, colour frontispiece, plates and marginal illustrations, dark green cloth boards which are scuffed, with gilt titling and gilt vignette on the spine, which is very faded and worn along the edges, the corners are bumped. The drawings of a dung beetle pushing his load with his front legs rather than his back legs on pages 65, 337 and 457 and Snowball the horse being dragged out of the river on page 316, which appeared in the early issues, have been changed in this impression; foxing mainly on the page edges, a good copy.

Signed by Percy Fitzpatrick on the title page.

The presentation inscription on the front free end paper reads: To you, Rina, because you are 3 years and because you are adopted of the Little People and as one of these for your father was ‘one of us’ in the old old days - here is the story of Jock with my love and very best wishes for your birthday, 19 Dec 1921.

Fitzpatrick's adventures during this time of his life, when he was pioneering in the Bushveld, are vividly described in his book Jock of the Bushveld, which is generally accepted as a South African classic.

In the early 1900's he used to recount the adventures of his dog Jock (a Staffordshire Bull terrier cross), in the form of bedtime stories to his four children, Nugent, Alan, Oliver, and Cecily, to whom the book was dedicated - the 'Likkle People'.

Rudyard Kipling, an intimate friend, used to take part in these story-telling evenings and it was he who persuaded FitzPatrick to put the stories together in book form. Having done this, FitzPatrick searched for a suitable artist to illustrate the book and eventually came across Edmund Caldwell in London and brought him to South Africa to visit the Bushveld and make the drawings on the spot.

The book, which appeared in 1907 for the first time, was an immediate and overwhelming success, being reprinted four times in that year. http://www.krugerpark.co.za/sir-percy-fitzpatrick-kruger-national-park.html