Search Results: Rock Art from Christison Rare Books, IOBA SABDA

(London, P.R. Gawthorn, 1949). Translation by Mary E. Boyle. 4to; original cloth; pictorial dustwrapper foxed and edgeworn; scattered foxing throughout, quite pronounced in endpapers and prelim's; gift inscription on front free endpaper; pp. 100, incl. index; illustrated with black-and-white photographs and colour reproductions of rock art. Fair condition. "The Abbé Breuil's classic works on the prehistoric paintings in the underground caves of France and Spain are the foundation stones of all study of European prehistoric art. Beyond the Bounds of History is an album of colour sketches accompanied by explanatory notes, drawn and written by this foremost prehistorian of the day in intervals of rest during his last great African tour." .

(Cape Town: Purnell, 1979) 0868430293. 4to; original black boards, lettered in white on spine; pictorial dustwrapper; decorative endpapers; pp. 125, incl. index; liberally illustrated in colour and monochrome. Dustwrapper rubbed and edgeworn; edges of boards very lightly rubbed; trace of foxing to edges. Good condition. "The art-lover will admire the elegance of the draughtsmanship, the portrayal of the movement and the sophisticated techniques of distortion and foreshortening. The general reader will be fascinated by new views of life in Southern Africa before the beginning of written records. To guide him there are introductory chapters dealing with the Bushmen, past and present. ... Bert Woodhouse has pursued his hobby of photographing, studying and writing about the art on the rocks of Southern Africa for more than twenty years. The illustrations in this book are a selection from his collection of some 25 000 colour slides." .

(Cape Town: Purnell, 1979) 0868430293. 4to; original black boards, lettered in white on spine; pictorial dustwrapper; decorative endpapers; pp. 125, incl. index; liberally illustrated in colour and monochrome. Dustwrapper slightly rubbed and edgeworn; edges of boards very lightly rubbed. Very good condition. "The art-lover will admire the elegance of the draughtsmanship, the portrayal of the movement and the sophisticated techniques of distortion and foreshortening. The general reader will be fascinated by new views of life in Southern Africa before the beginning of written records. To guide him there are introductory chapters dealing with the Bushmen, past and present. ... Bert Woodhouse has pursued his hobby of photographing, studying and writing about the art on the rocks of Southern Africa for more than twenty years. The illustrations in this book are a selection from his collection of some 25 000 colour slides." .

(Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 2001) 1868142469. 219 x 149 mm; laminated pictorial wrappers; pp. (x) + 437; numerous illustrations, maps, tables. Earlier owner's name signed on half-title. Fine condition. "The volume brings together the work of a number of scholars who have critically examined what has come to be known as the 'trance hypothesis'. Though they reach consensus about the value of the hypothesis, they raise questions about points of detail and the applicability of the hypothesis to all paintings and engravings. Many of the chapters engage in wider issues that impinge on other disciplines, such as linguistics and folklore studies, demonstrating the relationship between them and rock art. The work includes an overview of the development of rock art studies, showing how the approach has been modified in the light of criticisms and new insights." .

(Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2009) 9781868144983. 240 x 260 mm; laminated pictorial wrappers; pp. x + 214, incl. index; maps; tables; lavishly illustrated with historical photographs and full-colour reproductions of rock art. Fine condition. "In 2002, [Patricia Vinnicombe] started to explore the possibility of republication [of 'People of the Eland']. But, she did not feel that the book could be reissued without adding additional sections to explain how knowledge had expanded in the decades since the publication of the book. ... The Eland's People is thus intended as a companion volume to People of the Eland and it is hoped that this new volume will provide a richer appreciation of the importance of Pat's original work, as well as allowing readers an overview of current understandings of Drakensberg rock art." .

(Cape Town, 1946). Wraps, pp. 20, few text illustrations. Slight creasing, some foxing opposite the inside wraps and in margins. .

(Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1998) 1868143325. 220 x 150 mm; laminated pictorial wrappers; pp. viii + 224; profusely illustrated with full-colour photographs, location maps, line drawings and diagrams. Fine condition. "South Africa is well known for its magnificent rock art. An important cultural heritage, it strikes chords in almost all who are fortunate enough to see it on the rock face. Echoing, as it does, a world which no longer exists, it has long enticed researchers to attempt to find out its meaning. Designed as a handy fieldguide for rock art enthusiasts, Fragile Heritage covers the most important and accessible rock art sites in South Africa - sites selected because they are officially open to visitors and are adequately protected from the destructive whims of humans to which so much South African rock art has fallen victim. In an accessible and illuminating introduction David Lewis-Williams introduces readers to the basic theoretical and conceptual tools with… Read More

(Salisbury: Longman Rhodesia, 1974) 0582641659. 195 x 238 mm; pictorial wrappers; pp. 64; full-colour plates; some maps and monochrome illustrations. Cover very slightly tanned. Very good condition. "This small book has been written more for the tourist than for the student of rock art. Therefore, accessibility has been the keynote in selecting the twenty-two caves and shelters presented here, rather than artistic merit only. For the same reason, those paintings deep in the Tribal Trust Lands have been excluded. However, a distribution map and a list of important paintings not illustrated or otherwise included in the text can be referred to at the end of this book. The writer has endeavoured to give details of at least one accessible shelter in or near every major centre ..." .

(Cape Town: Struik, 1970). Oblong 4to (254 x 300 mm); original mustard cloth with gilt titles and gilt Bushman hunter device on upper cover; pictorial dustwrapper; pictorial endpapers; pp. xi + (i) + 278, incl. index; lavishly illustrated with marginal and full-page monochrome and polychrome reproductions of rock art. Dustwrapper ever so slightly rubbed and edgeworn; previous owner's name on front free endpaper; front pastedown pulled a little at hinge; scattered light foxing. Very good condition. "Jalmar and Ione Rudner are well known both inside and outside South Africa for their work in the fields of archaeology and ethnology, having published many papers and articles. Jalmar Rudner was Honorary Curator of Archaeology at the South African Museum for thirteen years and was also Honorary General Secretary of the South African Archaeological Society for a few years. Ione Rudner is a staff member in the department of Palaeontology at the South African Museum. Their studies in many remote… Read More

(London: British Museum Press, 1995) 0714125180. 4to; original green boards, lettered in gilt on spine; laminated pictorial dustwrapper; pictorial endpapers; pp.176, incl. index; map; colour plates; monochrome illustrations in text. Dustwrapper a little sunned on spine panel; some fox spots to edges. Very good condition. "This personal exploration of an artistic tradition that has hitherto been disregarded or misunderstood reveals an unexpected artistic and conceptual richness in a people that were long despised. It is illustrated throughout with the author's superb detailed tracings of the paintings and a selection of colour photographs, the vast majority published here for the first time." .

(Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2009) 9781868144976. 240 x 260 mm; laminated pictorial wrappers; pp. xxii + 377, incl. index; maps; tables; lavishly illustrated with historical photographs and reproductions, in full-colour and monochrome, of rock art. Fine condition. "People of the Eland aimed to gain an insider's view of the rock art using San understandings of the world. While following this approach, it quickly became clear to Vinnicombe that the art was very far from simple depictions of daily life as had once seemed likely, but instead reflected the most deeply held San beliefs and symbols. This approach and this understanding has now become the standard for all those working with San rock art. Whilst this early knowledge of San art has been built upon considerably since 1976, People of the Eland remains a cornerstone of our current understanding. Reprinted here in full colour, with the original artwork and photographs, People of the Eland remains a seminal work ..." .

(Cape Town: Purnell, 1978) 0360004857. A booklet in the "Pride of South Africa" series. 230 x 172 mm; saddle-stitched pictorial wrappers; pp. 24; map; illustrations in colour and monochrome. Wrappers slightly sunned and rubbed; earlier owner's hand-stamp to first page; occasional fox spot. Good to very good condition. "Paintings and engravings on the walls of caves or on rocks in the open air - that is rock art. It is to be found on every continent, and each occurrence has its own fascination, but nowhere did the art reach the perfection of line, composition and sensitivity achieved in South Africa and usually called Bushman art." .

(Cape Town: Books of Africa, 1969). Small 8vo; original pictorial boards; pictorial dustwrapper, housed in removable protector; pp. (x) + 166, incl. index; 12 colour plates; 16 black-and-white plates; line drawings. Dustwrapper very slightly edgeworn, with trace of sunning to spine panel; earlier owner's name signed on front pastedown; a little foxing to endpapers, occasional fox spot elsewhere. Very good condition. "This book deals with the development of rock painting and engraving in the southern part of Africa; the growth of different styles and schools of painting and the fascinating and often mysterious background of the people responsible for them. The author expertly evaluates the meaning of many of the more famous rock paintings, such as the White Lady of the Brandberg, and comes to some interesting conclusions." .

(Cape Town: Struik, 1973, 2nd enlarged edition) 0869770268. Number 158 of an edition limited to 275 copies, signed by the author. The second, enlarged edition is, furthermore, somewhat elusive. 4to; original brown quarter leather, with textured cloth sides; gilt device to upper cover; pp. 96, including index; numerous colour photographs. Spine gilt indistinct; extremities lightly rubbed; earlier owner's bookplate to front free endpaper; faint spotting to top edge. Very good condition. "Artists and archaeologists have long been deeply interested in South Africa's amazing wealth of prehistoric art. Not only have the works in the two thousand known galleries thrown a flood of light on the development of prehistoric art, they have also thrown a flood of light on the artists themselves. It is in his paintings that we see something of Stone Age man's practices and pastimes and get some idea not only of his ceremonies and beliefs, his hunting habits, weapons and clothes, but also of… Read More

(Dar-es-Salaam: Tanganyika Travel Committee, ca 1950). Catalogued from upper cover, and reproduced from Tanganyika Notes and Records No. 29. 244 x 171 mm; side-stitched pictorial card wrappers; pp. (iv) + 4 + (ii) + 64; several plates; folding map. Wrappers a bit tanned and curled, worn at head of spine; deaccession stamps to title page. Good condition. 'This "Guide and Record" aims to give a preliminary account of some of the more interesting rock paintings which have so far been discovered in Tanganyika, especially in the the Kondoa district of the Central Province. While it is not written for the expert it does provide precise information of the locality of the paintings and tells those interested how to get to them. Thus anyone who has occasion to travel along the Great North Road between Dodoma and Arusha is recommended to take a copy of the "Guide" with him and to see as many of these fascinating paintings as he can.' .

(Windhoek: the author, 1999) 9991675051. 240 x 170 mm; saddle-stitched pictorial wrappers; pp. 24; illustrations in colour and monochrome; central fold-out illustration of the entire White Lady panel; colour map. Fine condition. "The White Lady of the Brandberg is the most famous of all African rock paintings. It was discovered in a place of natural grandeur, in a mountain gorge flanked by precipitous cliffs and filled with gigantic granite boulders. On one of these boulders long forgotten artists had painted their pictures and thus transformed a secluded grotto into a fascinating sanctuary. The discovery of this famous rock art site was made on 4th January 1917 by topographer Reinhardt Maack, who had been surveying the upper reaches of the Brandberg. On his way down through the Tsisab Gorge, quite exhausted and without water, he stumbled into a secret grotto and beheld an amazing procession painted on the wall." .

(Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg, 1984) 08684632X. Oblong 4to; original brown boards; laminated pictorial dustwrapper; pictorial endpapers; pp. 120; photographs, largely in colour, of animals and Bushman rock art. Some foxing to reverse of dustwrapper and outermost leaves. Good to very good condition. "In this book Bert Woodhouse (H.C. Woodhouse) has combined the Bushman folklore about animals and their pictorial records on the rocks with photographs of actual animals for comparison. In doing so, he has drawn upon his collection of some 30 000 slides accumulated over more than twenty-five years of pursuing a hobby which brings together his interest in mountain-walking, archaeology, anthropology, art and photography." .