Philately of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 (annotated; 1943) (from the library of Andre Bezuidenhout)

See also Lot 1.

The writer was the leading U S authority in his field in his lifetime, had a very large personal collection and access to others. He had married a South African and spent some time in this country. While written for American readers, his outstanding monograph would have had - and no doubt still has - a much wider readership.

Half-bound in patterned blue-and-black leatherette-boards and lighter-blue spine with black lettering to the spine only. There is a single small edge-chip 15 mm above the the foot of the front cover. Grey tape has been added to reinforce the binding at both endpapers and there is adhesive white paper reinforement at the spines of three leaves at the front and two at the back as well as between sections, making the bnding fully functional. There is a sunned, or added, leaf opposite the last text page of the book (p 226).

There are ownership details in pen on both the front free endpaper and the title-page as well as pencilled notes and corrections, especially of dates, and pen underlining and occasional brief annotations on almost a quarter of the pages. These are mainly in green and seem to be in more than one hand. In the seller\'s view, these do not detract from the usefulness of this copy of this outstanding book - for some readers perhaps the reverse.

The book\'s illustrated text is complete and in very good condition.

The author acknowledges the close collaboration between himself and Theodor L Chambers of the publishing firm. In every way, and including the map and the contents, introduction, bibliography and index sections, they have produced a model book - and one of the best and today the most valuable in the Bezuidenhout collection.