Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #114 begins on 11 Apr 2024

Fitzpatrick (Sir Percy)

JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD (Scarce dung beetle error)

Published: Longmans Green and Co., London, 1929

Edition: Fourteenth Impression

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Bizarre dung beetle error recurrence on two pages of this 1929 ('Great Depression') Fourteenth Impression.

475 pages, colour frontispiece, plates and marginal illustrations, dark green cloth with gilt titling and gilt vignette of Jock on the spine, with the incorrect illustrations of a dung beetle pushing his load with his front legs rather than his back legs on pages 337 and 457. The dung beetle illustration on page 65 however is the corrected version.

The incorrect illustrations of the dung beetle pushing the dung ball with its front legs on these pages, along with an illustration of Snowball the horse being dragged out of an impossibly high river bank on page 316 were noticed by Percy Fitzpatrick whilst the first impression was on the press. Being a perfectionist and stickler for detail, he apparently stopped the press and instructed his Illustrator, Edmund Caldwell to make the corrections. A number of sections however had already been printed and somehow managed to find their way through to bindery, hence the scarce errors found only in certain first impressions, which now have huge collector appeal. Here then is an even scarcer fourteenth impression where two of the original incorrect sections once again found their way through to bindery. 

There is a previous owner's bookplate attached to the front fixed EP as well as a gift inscription to the age toned front free EP. A fiber-tissue reinforcement has been made to the front EP hinge. Contents are clean and tight.

'Fitzpatrick's adventures during this time of his life, when he was pioneering in the Bushveld, are vividly described in his book Jock of the Bushveld, which is generally accepted as a South African classic. In the early 1900's he used to recount the adventures of his dog Jock (a Staffordshire Bull terrier cross), in the form of bedtime stories to his four children, Nugent, Alan, Oliver, and Cecily, to whom the book was dedicated - the likkle people. Rudyard Kipling, an intimate friend, used to take part in these story-telling evenings and he it was who persuaded FitzPatrick to put the stories together in book form. Having done this, FitzPatrick searched for a suitable artist to illustrate the book and eventually came across Edmund Caldwell in London and brought him to South Africa to visit the Bushveld and make the drawings on the spot. The book, which appeared in 1907 for the first time, was an immediate and overwhelming success, being reprinted four times in that year.' http://www.krugerpark.co.za/sir-percy-fitzpatrick-kruger-national-park

  • Binding Condition: Good
  • Overall Condition: Good
  • Size: 216mm x 155mm x 37mm
  • Sold By: Booktown Africana
  • Contact Person: Chris Shelton
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 0685615292
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Internet banking transfer (EFT), PAYPAL. Regret no Credit Card facility.
  • Trade Associations: AA Approved


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