MAJOR ROCK PAINTINGS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (De luxe edition signed by the author)

95 pages, colour frontispiece, 106 colour reproductions of rock paintings from all parts of Southern Africa, map, quarter brown leather with matching cloth boards with a few tiny marks to cloth, titled gilt on the spine. A very good copy.

The limitation tipped in on the front free end paper reads: 50 copies bound in quarter leather, numbered and signed by the author which constitute a limited de luxe edition. This book is number 31.

RICHARD ‘GINGER’ TOWNLEY JOHNSON
Ginger, as he was known, was born in 1911. In 1940, his mutual passion for rough camping and rock art recording, led him to the recording of Rock Art paintings in the Bainskloof mountains, parts of the Western Cape mountains from Hex River in the south to Pakhuis in the north, eventually covering more than 500 sites.
Ginger was not only a man of the mountains, he was a familiar strandloper of the Atlantic coast between Llandudno and Oudeschip. He and his wife Mary were early residents of the village and his contribution to the community was acknowledged when he was awarded the ‘Freedom of Llandudno’. It was here that his three children grew up and, over the years, the family rescued dozens of people from the dangerous currents and icy waters of the bay, as well as participating in mountain rescues, since Ginger was a member of the Mountain Club.
Ginger’s artistic flair contributed greatly to the success of his reproductions of rock art. He worked on techniques of tracing and reproduction over several decades, always striving for a closer resemblance to the originals on the rock face. More than any other copyist he was concerned with reproducing the colours and textures of the rock face as well as the actual paintings, so that the viewer could experience something very close to seeing the original. He always tried to include features of the natural rock surface which may have influenced the Stone Age artists.
Ginger spent more than 25 years copying examples of Rock Art with infinite precision and succeeded in copying over 1 000 rock paintings, some of which have subsequently been defaced or destroyed. His reproductions featured in many exhibitions and they provided the content for two books: Rock Paintings of the South-West Cape and Major Rock Paintings of Southern Africa. The caliber of his work achieved further recognition when, after his retirement, the Rembrandt Van Rijn Art Foundation sponsored him to continue with it.

Obituary: R. ‘Ginger’ Townley Johnson (1911-1994) South African Archaeological Bulletin 50: 81-82: 1995