My Friend Adventure

(Cape Town: Howard Timmins, 1960). 8vo; original red boards; pictorial dustwrapper; pp. 216; plates. Dustwrapper a little rubbed and edgeworn; earlier owner's bookplate, with penned notation on front pastedown; trace of spotting. Good to very good condition. "'Ben die taaiste' - Ben the tough one - was the author's nickname when he was a schoolboy at Paarl and his toughness has stood him in good stead in the course of a long and adventurous life. He tried his hand at everything; a backstage messenger in the old Opera House in Cape Town, recruiting native labour, transport rider for the Germans in their war against the Hereros, diamond digger, Rhodesian pioneer - all these he fitted into his life before he reached 25 years. He served in the first World War and subsequently made a name for himself as a daring and enterprising contractor, building bridges and dams in many parts of Southern Africa. Later on in life he ventured his capital in a saw mill in the Tzitzikamma Forest, where he spent many happy years with his family. South Africa and Rhodesia owe much to men like Ben Uys, who helped to build and develop the land, and his straightforward, highly readable tale of an exciting era in our history will be of interest to all those who enjoy an entertaining book dealing with our recent past." .