Louis Michel Thibault 1750-1815. His official life at the Cape of Good Hope

Unusually for these publishers, no designer is credited with this beautifully designed 1972 book, which is also superbly printed and bound.

However, a note from the publishers reads: "This historic work . . . was offered by the author as a token of goodwill towards Thibault's adopted country for first publication in South Africa. Madame H de Puyfontaine wrote the manuscript in Cape Town during 1969 and 1970 in French, the language of most of Thibault's documents in the Cape Archives Depot. She was assisted by J W Louw and M E de Villiers in the preparation of the text in English."

The author, a decorated officer of the French resistance in the second world war, who was made a chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1970, begins her preface thus: "Only sparse pages devoted to Louis Michel Thibault existed in various books and periodicals when I began my research at the Cape Archives Depot of his official correspondence addressed over well-nigh thirty-three years to the various personalities with whom he had collaborated." Later, she writes: " . . . I shall deal only with those works of Thibault of which I have found proof that he had indeed been the creator." And after enumerating Thibault's skills and versatility, she ends her preface: "Why then did 'vraie gloire' come to him only after his death? Question and answer is the theme of this book."

The matt cornfield dustjacket, printed on all five faces, is chipped at the top of the spine with a small loss of material, lightly rubbed at the flap folds and rubbed and holed at the final letter T of Thibault. The green cloth-boards, gilt lettered to the spine, are as new. The boards are slightly bowed but the binding is tight. The front paste-down is bubbled and the plain free endpapers are lightly sunned in register with the jacket. The contents - xvi + 144 pp of colour-illustrated text, appendixes and index, all lithographed on smooth matt paper - are unmarked and undiscoloured, making this a very desirable copy.