The Book Shoppe

This undated set of Cassell’s Illustrated Shakespeare is filled with striking steel engravings, produced by HC Selous, the uncle of the more familiar Frederick Courtney Selous. It also has, loosely inserted, a number of playbills from performances of Shakespearian plays, some dating as far back as the 1860s. Among them are playbills from the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End, while under the management of Henry Irving and his acting manager, Bram Stoker, author of ‘Dracula’.

Title: The Plays of Shakespeare (3 Volumes)
Editors: Charles & Mary Cowden Clarkes
Illustrator: H.C. Selous
Publisher: Cassell, Peter, and Galpin
Place: London
Year: ca 1860-1880

R2200

Vol1: x + 727pp
Vol2: viii+600pp
Vol3: xl+800pp

4tos. Contemporary half leather bindings with 5 raised bands to spines, gilt tooled decoration and titles in maroon compartment labels. Marbled edges and endpapers. Volume 1 has been rebacked. Spines with age related wear, chips and fading of the gilt. Prelims and endmatter age toned, contents clean with occasional foxing. Generously illustrated in b/w. Some pencil annotations. Extensive ephemeral material relating to the life, work and performances of Shakespeare.

The Birds of South Africa
by
Austin Roberts

Publisher: The Central News Agency & H.F.&G. Witherby Ltd.
Date Published: 1940
Publication Place: Johannesburg & London
Condition: Very Good
Binding: Half leather over cloth boards
Dimensions: 8vo, 23cm x 17cm

# # +463pp

Subscriber’s edition, limited to 125 copies of which this is no 31. Signed to the limitation page by the author Austin Roberts, illustrator Norman Lighton and the secretary of the South African Bird Book Fund, John Voelcker.

Half leather, with 5 raised bands to spine, gilt titles to compartments. Top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Some foxing to the cloth, prelims, the versos of the plates, fore-edge and end matter.

A very good copy overall.
DM for pricing.

The History of Western Philosophy
by
Bertrand Russell

1947. George Allen & Unwin. London
2nd impression.

SOLD

Due to wartime shortages, dust jackets for early copies of The History of Western Philosophy were printed on old War Office maps, making each copy unique. This copy’s jacket is printed on a 1943 map of Western Poland.

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Constantia’s Forgotten Farms
by
John Cornell & Stephen D’Alton

Copies this important new book on the history of Constantia and surroundings are now available from The Book Shoppe at R475 each.

When the authors researched the history of four large farms in the lower Constantia area dating back to the 1700s, Weltevreden, Schildpadvlei, Timour Hall and Hauptville, they found that they were later subdivided into smaller farms and smallholdings.
Somewhat surprising is the fact that most of the old farmhouses - more than two dozen of them, including the original homesteads - still survive to this day, lost in the sprawl of suburbia.
This book tells of their discovery and their histories.

Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins Comes Back
Mary Poppins Opens the Door
Mary Poppins in the Park

by

P.L. Travers

Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964

These are the first 4 Mary Poppins books, reissued to coincide with the release of the Disney film.

The first book contains a version of the chapter “Bad Tuesday” in which Mary and the children use a compass to visit places all over the world in a remarkably short period of time. It contains a variety of cultural and ethnic stereotypes of Chinese, Native Alaskan or Inuit, sub-Saharan Africans, and Native Americans. Travers responded to criticism by revising the chapter twice, once in 1967 and again in 1981.
The book was banned from circulation in the San Francisco Library system in 1980.

Forgotten Heroes: A History of Black Rugby 1882 - 1992
by
Abdurahman (Manie) Booley

Publisher: Manie Booley Publications
Date Published: 1998
Publication Place: Cape Town
Condition: Very Good
Binding: Pictorial paper covered boards
Dimensions: 4to, 31cm x 21.5cm

328pp.
Pictorial paper covered boards. A touch of foxing to the title page, corners rubbed and binding slightly shaken.
An important and meticulously researched book on the history of black South African rugby , detailing the players, clubs, associations, tours and providing insight into the political and social contexts that shaped the sport between the late 19th and 20th century. Generously illustrated throughout in b/w and colour.

A very good copy with minor faults.

This book can be purchased on our BobShop page, link in bio!

The Hunting of the Snark
by
Lewis Carroll

Illustrator: Ralph Steadman
Publisher: Michael Dempsey
Date Published: 1975
Publication Place: London
Condition: Very Good
Binding: Tan cloth covered boards
Dimensions: Square 4to, 26.5cm x 28.5cm

71pp.

Title page signed by the illustrator and dated 3/2.75, colophon signed by one of the typesetters, George Farmer.

Tan cloth covered boards with titles to spine. Some age toning around the edges of the boards. Light foxing to the edges and an occasional spot of foxing to the prelims.

Jacket price clipped, rear panel age toned.
A smart and indeed very good copy of Lewis’ famous nonsense poem, with Steadman’s iconically manic illustrations.

Check out our latest listings on BobShop (the old Bidorbuy) - link in bio!

Platteland
by
Roger Ballen

Publisher: William Waterman
Date Published: 1994
Publication Place: Johannesburg
Condition: Fine
Binding: White paper covered boards
Dimensions: 4to, 29cm x 24.5cm
Unpaginated

Title page signed and inscribed “To Robyn, best wishes” dated July 14 1997 and signed by the author.
White paper covered boards with black titles to spine and top board.

A Fine, unblemished copy, in a Fine dust jacket of this iconic, often disturbing, documentary work on rural white South Africa.

The Thousand and One Nights:
Commonly Called in England The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. A New Translation from the Arabic, with Copious Notes.

by Edward William Lane

Illustrated by Many Hundred Engravings on Wood, from Original Designs by
William Harvey

John Murray, London, 1859

R6500

3 Volumes in Fine Leather Bindings
3 volumes. 8vos: 22.5cm x 15cm.

Vol 1: 4+ # # #+555pp+5
Vol 2: 4+xii+578pp+4
Vol 3: 4+xii+703pp+5

Very Good + Bindings and Text Blocks.
555 black and white steel plate engravings to volume 1, 578 to volume 2 and 704 to volume 3.
Fine contemporary full calfskin bindings, 5 raised bands to spines, gilt titles and volume numbers in maroon and black compartments respectively, the other compartments being elaborately and finely tooled. Both inner and outer gilt dentelles. Turkish/Stone marbled endpapers and edges.

All volumes with age toned prelim pages and end-matter, and light, scattered foxing throughout. Some vertical cracks to the title compartments of each volume as pictured.

Vol 1 with minor binding imperfection, chord exposed at pp70/71 resulting in slight offsetting of the signature from the rest of the textblock. Lower fore-edge corner slightly scuffed, minor age related wear to the rest of the binding.
Vol 2 with light scuffing to the lower board about 1.5cm and 3cm.
Vol 3 with light scuffing to the boards.

A most attractive and beautifully bound set in Very Good condition indeed.

This very special little Jock was translated into Dutch by Gustav Preller and published in 1909, only 2 years after the first edition of Jock of the Bushveld appeared in English. It was published in standard and School Prize bindings, this copy being an example of the latter. You can read more about it and bid on auction number 114. Bidding closes at 6:30pm on Thursday 16 April.

In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays
by
Bertrand Russell

1st Edition. 1935. George Allen & Unwin. London.

R4000

8vo. 231pp.
Very Good in a Very Good, price clipped jacket.

In these essays Russell “emphasises the dangers of too much organisation in the realm of thought and too much strenuousness in action.” A lovely first edition copy of a work by one of, if not the most influential philosophers and public intellectuals of the 20th century.

Some beautiful monographs on local plants from the collection of a retired botanist are now available to purchase from our shop.
DM us for pricing and availability 🌷🪷🪻

The Scholar’s Encyclopaedia Britannica
9th and 10th Edition
1875 - 1903

R15 000

Complete in 35 Volumes, 24 being the 9th Edition and 10 ‘new volumes’ being the 10th Edition, plus an index. Includes purpose built bookcase, originally sold with the set, with volume numbers stamped into the shelves.

Volumes 1, 11 and 28 have been professionally restored.

Pelargoniums of Southern Africa
by
J.J.A. Van der Walt & P.J. Vorster
illustrated by
Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst

3 volumes
Vol 1: 2nd edition. 1979. Fischer. GmbH & Co. Limburg.
Vol 2: 1st edition. 1981. Juta. Cape Town
Vol 3: 1st edition 1988. National Botanic Gardens Kirstenbosch. Cape Town.

SOLD

A Very Good, mixed set of this standard work on Southern African Pelargoniums, beautifully illustrated throughout in full colour.

Some new, witchy stock just in; titles on alchemy, witchcraft, Kabbalah, astrology and paganism all available for purchase. DM us for prices
🧙🧙‍♀️🦹‍♂️✨✡️🪄🦄🦹‍♀️🧙🧙‍♂️

The Lord of the Rings
by
J.R.R. Tolkien

3 volumes. 2nd edition, 3rd impressions.
1968. George Allen and Unwin. London.

SOLD

Some tide marks to the lower edges of the boards and jacket versos. Spines with chips, especially to FR as pictured.

Other than these minor issues this is a neat and attractive set in unclipped dust jackets that are housed in removable, protective Brodart sleeves.

An Alphabet
by
William Nicholson

R32 000

Unpaginated; title page + 26 coloured lithographs from original woodblocks. 1898 (i.e. 1897). William Heinemann. London.

Unlike the deluxe edition which featured the plates “E is for Executioner” and “T is for Toper” this first trade edition of Nicholson’s first picture book published for Heinemann features the more child-friendly “E is for Earl” and “T is for Trumpeter”. A larger library edition was also produced. The Artist in the plate “A was an Artist” is a self portrait.

A fine example of early English Art Nouveau poster style lithography.

A scarce book in the first trade edition, especially with the spine so well preserved.

South African Lithographs
by
Walter Battiss

A Series of Twelve from Original Plates
Each Copy Signed by the Artist

Edition Limited to 150 Sets

ca 1950.

R25 000

Walter Battiss’ is best known for his vibrant and colourful figures, abstracts and other flights of fancy. Here, in his earlier work, is Battiss the draughtsman, carefully observing town, village and city-scapes of mid century South Africa. I much prefer this more reserved work, although his knack for caricature is still very much present in his depictions of plants and animals among the buildings and landscapes.

An exceptionally scarce Battiss item, usually found incomplete or as individual lithographs without the portfolio. The current copy has been professionally cleaned and restored.

Some recent Marxist finds from various bookshops around Melbourne, Australia. We’ll have these and many others in the shop fairly soon - DM if you would like any reserved.

A number of signed and inscribed books by the eminent South Africa photographer David Goldblatt are now available for purchase from our shop.

Also available is a signed and inscribed vintage silver gelatine print, previously unpublished, but likely forming part of the photographer’s ‘Structures’ series and probably taken in the Eastern Cape. The print is signed and inscribed to Goldblatt’s friend, Dr David Woods, from whose collection most of the items originate.

Please contact The Book Shoppe for pricing and further information.

The Original Water-color Paintings by John James Audubon for The Birds of America

R2500

2 volumes in marbled paper covered slipcase.
431 colour plates including several fold-outs.
Volumes Very Good, corner of vol 2 lightly bumped. Slipcase VG- with corner bumped and some minor splits but in-tact and whole.

Each volume in brown, cloth boards, with marbled endpapers matching the slipcase.

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was not the first person to attempt to paint and describe all the birds of America (Alexander Wilson has that distinction), but for half a century he was the young country s dominant wildlife artist. His seminal Birds of America, a collection of 435 life-size prints, quickly eclipsed Wilson s work and is still a standard against which 20th and 21st century bird artists are measured.

This set is one the finest trade editions of Audubon’s Birds of America produced.

The Noma Guide to Fermentation
by
René Redzepi & David Zilber

455pp. 2018. Artisan. New York.

SOLD

At Noma, every dish includes some form of fermentation, whether it’s a bright hit of vinegar, a deeply savory miso, or the life-changing shock of a lacto-fermented gooseberry, as experienced by Noma’s chef and co-owner, René Redzepi. Now Redzepi and chef David Zilber, who runs the restaurant’s fermentation lab, share techniques for making Noma’s extensive pantry of ferments at home. And, just as important, they show how to use these ingredients-and transform your cooking -through more than 100 original recipes and over 500 color photographs.

We now offer take-away coffees, toasted cheese scones and books - happy holidays everyone.