Author and Title:
Breytenbach (J.H.)
DIE TWEEDE VRYHEIDSOORLOG: I. Voorspel tot die Stryd; II. Ontplooiing van die Boere-Offensief Oktober 1899 (Two Volumes)
Breytenbach (J.H.)
DIE TWEEDE VRYHEIDSOORLOG: I. Voorspel tot die Stryd; II. Ontplooiing van die Boere-Offensief Oktober 1899 (Two Volumes)
Collation:
Two volumes, complete as issued: Volume I, 406 pages, monochrome portrait frontispiece of President S.J.P. Kruger, monochrome portraits in the text; Volume II, 381 pages, monochrome portrait frontispiece of General J.H.M. Kock, monochrome portraits in the text. Publisher’s original dark green cloth boards with gilt-lettered spines.
Two volumes, complete as issued: Volume I, 406 pages, monochrome portrait frontispiece of President S.J.P. Kruger, monochrome portraits in the text; Volume II, 381 pages, monochrome portrait frontispiece of General J.H.M. Kock, monochrome portraits in the text. Publisher’s original dark green cloth boards with gilt-lettered spines.
Condition: Good plus copies. The spines are dulled with fading; Volume I shows rubbing and wear at the head of the spine, while the head of the spine on Volume II is slightly chipped and frayed. Both volumes exhibit mottled grey rubbing and soiling along the lower edges and corners of the boards, more pronounced on Volume I. Volume II has a small spot on the upper board where the cloth is chipped and rubbed, and Volume I has a small white scuff on the lower board. Internally, the bindings remain tight. The text block edges are toned with some browning, though the cream text pages are clean, legible, and free of foxing.
Notes:
Dr. Johan Hendrik Breytenbach (1917–1994) served as an archivist at the National Archives in Pretoria from 1940 before being appointed the official State Historian for the Second Anglo-Boer War by the Minister of Education, Arts and Science in 1959, working under the supervision of the Department of History at the University of Pretoria.
Dr. Johan Hendrik Breytenbach (1917–1994) served as an archivist at the National Archives in Pretoria from 1940 before being appointed the official State Historian for the Second Anglo-Boer War by the Minister of Education, Arts and Science in 1959, working under the supervision of the Department of History at the University of Pretoria.
Published two decades prior to his monumental, state-commissioned six-volume Die Geskiedenis van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, 1899–1902 (1969–1996), this scarce two-volume Nasionale Pers set served as the foundational precursor to his life's work. Written in Afrikaans and heavily supported by primary archival footnotes, Volume I (Voorspel tot die Stryd) examines the political, diplomatic, and military build-up to the outbreak of hostilities in October 1899, while Volume II (Ontplooiing van die Boere-Offensief Oktober 1899) details the mobilization and opening offensive campaigns of the Boer Republics. Breytenbach later reworked and expanded this material into the opening volumes of his post-1969 official history.
References:
- Extracted from Grundlingh (Albert), The Dynamics of Treason: Boer Collaboration in the South African War of 1899–1902 (Protea Book House, Pretoria, 2006), pages 14–16, discussing the evolution of Afrikaner nationalist historiography and Breytenbach’s role as the official state chronicler of the Republican war effort.
- Extracted from Wessels (André), The Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902: White Man's War, Black Man's War, Traumatic War (Sun Press, Bloemfontein, 2011), pages 19–22, noting the significance of Breytenbach’s archival methodology in documenting the opening Boer offensives of October 1899.
- Biographical and bibliographic details verified via Johan Hendrik Breytenbach - Afrikaans Wikipedia and Tweede Vryheidsoorlog - Afrikaans Wikipedia.
Size:
8vo (approx. 215 x 145 mm)
8vo (approx. 215 x 145 mm)
Imprint:
Kaapstad (Cape Town), Nasionale Pers, Beperk, 1948–1949
Kaapstad (Cape Town), Nasionale Pers, Beperk, 1948–1949
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