The Misty Mountain by Pieter Pieterse

The Misty Mountain (First Edition, Fifth Impression, Illustrated Boards)

A Coming-of-Age Tale of a Boy, His Grandfather and a Pet Bushpig, Set in the Mountain Forests of Africa

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The Misty Mountain
• Author: Pieter Pieterse
• Publisher: De Jager-HAUM Publishers, Pretoria
• Publication Date: 1985
• ISBN-10: 0798614749
• Edition Details: First edition, 1985; this copy a fifth impression (1989/7).
• Binding: Publisher's pictorial hardcover boards with illustrated, apparently laminated, covers. Issued without a separate dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Medium-sized hardcover, roughly 210 x 150 mm. With text illustrations.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Boards: Pictorial laminated boards, with the front board generally clean. The spine shows marked staining and mottling, with wear to the lower spine, a rubbed top edge and minor bumping at the head. Corners and edges show light wear.
• Interior: The pages are clean with even toning. Show-through of the contents page is visible on the title page. The front gutter shows some stress at the hinge, and the endpaper carries a few small spots. The text block is sound. A small, illegible pencil mark sits near the inner gutter of the title page.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

The Misty Mountain is a coming-of-age nature story by Pieter Pieterse, set on the forested slopes of a mountain in Africa. A six-year-old orphan goes to live with his reclusive grandfather and learns the ways of the wild.

He grows up beside a pet bushpig that eventually returns to the wild. Themes of love, loss and humankind's dependence on nature run through the narrative, and the text is accompanied by illustrations.

Published in Pretoria by De Jager-HAUM, the book is an English-language edition of a work by one of South Africa's best-known Afrikaans storytellers. It will appeal to collectors of Pieterse and of South African nature and youth fiction.

Author Profile: Pieter Pieterse

Pieter Pieterse (1936–2002) was an Afrikaans writer, storyteller and television personality. He worked as a policeman and then an insurance representative before leaving a marketing management post at Sanlam in 1974 to write full time. His first short story was published in 1956.

He wrote more than thirty novels as well as screenplays, and won literary awards. Fourteen of his books were translated into English and one into French. From 1991 he presented television series, including Swerwerskos. Other notable titles include Tietiesbaaikos, Manaka, plek van die horings and Die vergete vallei.

The Misty Mountain Pieter Pieterse · Pieter Pieterse English translation · South African nature novel · Knysna forest coming-of-age story · De Jager-HAUM first edition · Pieter Pieterse hardcover 1985