LIKE DIAMOND BLAZING

Hardcover Octavo bound in blue papered boards, and has gilt lettering on the spine. It has 206 pages and 12 pages of plates. Slight bump marks to the head and heel of the spine. The dust jacket is in very good condition although it has been price clipped and has a slight tear on the top, near the spine, also has a protective brodart cover. Subsequently published in South Africa as “Coast of treasure”, overall the binding and the book are in very good condition.

Diamonds are an industry, but they are also a source of human fascination, the inspirers of dreams-and crimes. Lawrence Green was brought up in the heart of South Africa’s diamond belt, and has heard at first hand the dramatic stories of the most famous and notorious characters in the diamond world. Here are prospectors, the thieves and the men who made millions.

Here is the story of Old Kimberley, diamond capital of the world, and it’s “Big Hole”; the first discovery of diamonds in South Africa; the mystery of the lost half of the Cullinan diamond; the diamonds of the Kalahari Desert and the search for the so-called lost city; the Diamond road, north from Cape Town; and the almost unbelievable story of the forbidden territory called the “Coast of Diamonds”, where only the hard physical conditions prevent the adventurer from helping himself. This book is a brilliant panorama of adventure in strange places.