The Southern African Watercolours of Alice Balfour

Evocative depictions of the Rhodesian bush, before the impact of settlement

No. 208 of a Subscribers' Limited Edition of 500 copies. Oblong folio (380 x 516 mm); the portfolio quarter bound in blue leatherette with coarse oatmeal canvas sides; Alice Balfour's signature in gilt to upper cover; introductory 8-page illustrated booklet of the same format as the plates; ten plates, each with its own tissue protection. Near-fine condition.

Perhaps best known for her "Twelve Hundred Miles in a Waggon", in which she recounted experiences during a trip during the 1890s through South Africa, Bechuanaland and the territory of the British South Africa Company, "Alice Balfour possessed in great measure a faculty for recording the striking visual beauty of southern African scenery. ... Alice Balfour brought to her studies of African scenery an imaginative sympathy for genius loci, the spirit of places ..." The highly evocative pictures are as follows: 1) Table Mountain from the Garden, Groote Schuur, April 1894; 2) Tati River, 27 June 1894; 3) Granite Rocks, about 2 miles from Bonsor Reef, 15 July 1894; 4) Zimbabwe (Subsidiary Ruins), 29 July 1894; 5) Veldt about 6 miles S. of Fort Charter, 6 August 1894; 6) About 10 miles S.E. of Salisbury on Umtali Rd, 15 August 1894; 7) On the road between Salisbury and Umtali, about 60 miles from Salisbury, 19 August 1894; 8) Near Fischer's Farm, between Salisbury and Umtali, 21 August 1894; 9) Between Salisbury and Umtali, about 4 miles W. of the Devil's Pass, 24 August 1894; 10. About 7 miles E. of Massi Kessi on road between Umtali and Chimoio, 30 August 1894.

The previous owner of this portfolio, Brian Mussett, was Minister of Mines in the Rhodesian government, and is named among the subscribers.