THE FIRST SOUTH AFRICAN

 256pp. Full leather 'bespoke binding?'. Illustrated.

This copy appears to be a one off bespoke binding intended to look old with exaggerated wear in places. Though there are splits in places to the spine, the internal bindings are crisp and tight. This copy is number 193 of a limited print run of 250, inscribed for Jules Langenberg in recognition of a donation he made to the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology.

"Very few men in South Africa, or elsewhere for that matter, have had a more varied career than he had. He was successively a bank clerk in the Standard Bank, Cape Town, a digger at Pilgrim's Rest, a storekeeper, a transport rider, editor of a newspaper, a partner in the most successful mining-finance company in the world, a member of Parliament, an author and a pioneer of the citrus industry. By the time he was 35 he had written two of the most renowned best-sellers in the English language. Here is the full story of this amazing man's life with no detail of his triumphs and his personal sorrow omitted. It is written in a style worthy of the subject and it presents a portrait not only of a great South African but also of the age in which he lived. In its pages you will meet Paul Kruger, Lord Kitchener, Lord Milner, General Louis Botha, General Smuts, Cecil Rhodes, Dr. Jameson and many others - and see them as FitzPatrick saw them."