Johannesburg: McGraw-Hill, 1974. 4to. Unpaginated. Hardcover binding, black lettering to spine and inlaid illustration on front board. In slipcase. 43 woodcuts, collated and complete.
Limited deluxe edition of 250 copies, of which this is no. 23. Signed by Gray and Skotnes. With original woodcut at front of book, signed by Skotnes.
The legendary Shaka—known as a daredevil, strangler of serpents and leopards, even “the Black Napoleon”— is depicted in forty-three woodcuts, both black-&-white and colored, each print paired with a passage from an epic poem about Shaka’s life by Stephen Gray. The artwork was created by South African artist Cecil Skotnes, who chose woodcut as the perfect medium to express the power and violence of Shaka’s story as well as the stark brilliance of the Zulu landscape. One image in orange, yellow, and black shows Shaka like a great fig tree whose branches cover the sky. At a time when South Africa’s apartheid government suppressed the history of indigenous Africans or treated it as barbaric, Skotnes recognized the mythic quality of Zulu oral history and depicted Shaka as a culture hero. (https://library.si.edu/donate/adopt-a-book/assassination-shaka)
Condition: Very good. Light rubbing and light sunning to the slipcase. Light sunning to spine of book. Internally clean. Illustrations are bright. Well bound.
- Overall Condition: Very Good
- Size: 4to
