Jock of the Bushveld by Fitzpatrick, Sir Percy; Caldwell, E. [Illustrator -- a brother a brother of Mary Tourtel] - 1907

London, New York, Bombay & Calcutta: Longmans, Green and Co., 1907. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +. TEMPORARILY DISCOUNTED. WAS $750. NOW $100. A Very Good or better copy of the first edition, first printing/first issue [with drawings of a dung beetle pushing his load with his front legs rather than his back on pages 65, 337 and 457 which was changed to back legs in later printings and with drawing of a horse is being dragged up a vertical cliff on pg 316], in the Publisher's original green cloth (being a variant binding) with the spine lettered in gilt and decorated in blind. The boards show some rubbing and bending to their leading corners as well as some shelf wear to their bottom edges. A true story written by Fitzpatrick, a South African who was the Master of "Jock", the fearless and brave runt of a litter, the book is richly illustrated by Edwin Caldwell, a brother of Mary Tourtel [the British author and artist who created and drew the popular comic strip character "Rupert Bear"]. The tale contains a tissue-guarded frontispiece and twenty-two additional "Full Page Illustrations". The first page of each chapter contains a heading illustration and each other page shows a varied number of illustrations to the margin. The leaf hosting pp 177/178 has a sort of overlay to the leading margin that partially obscures the illustrations therein shown, and the illustration leaf facing page 172 shows a light fold line. The pages hosting the half-title and the blank side of the frontispiece have some dark marking (leaving the frontis illustration page clean), and the outer margin of that leaf shows a small closed tear to the leading margin. Scattered foxing lies within, but in spite of these flaws, this copy presents an opportunity to obtain the first edition, first printing, FIRST ISSUE of this RATHER UNCOMMON TO SCARCE noted work at a relatively low price. [NOTE: per Wikipedia: Jock of the Bushveld is a 1986 South African adventure film directed by Gray Hofmeyr and produced by Duncan MacNeillie for Duncan MacNeillie Production and Toron International. The film stars Jonathan Rands, Jocelyn Broderick and Michael Brunner in lead role along with Gordon Mulholland, Wilson Dunster in supportive roles and the dog Umfubu. The film is based on the 1907 novel by same name written by Irish writer James Percy FitzPatrick who went South Africa in 1800s. It was his friend Rudyard Kipling who encouraged Fitzpatrick to commit these stories, which Fitzpatrick had told to his children as bedtime stories, to writing.] This tremendously popular South African book and has been also widely read abroad. Over a hundred editions have been printed and it has been translated into Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Xhosa, and Zulu, and others. A SCARCE FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, OF THIS NOTABLE WORK.