Mafeking Road by Herman Charles Bosman
Mafeking Road (Collectible Human & Rousseau Bosman Paperback)
Herman Charles Bosman's Celebrated Oom Schalk Lourens Stories of the Groot Marico
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Mafeking Road
- Author: Herman Charles Bosman
- Publisher: Human & Rousseau, Cape Town ; Johannesburg
- Publication Date: 1996
- ISBN-13: 9780798128216
- ISBN-10: 0798128216
- Edition Details: Completely reset edition, fourth impression, 1996.
- Binding: Publisher's illustrated card wrappers, perfect bound, with a watercolour cover illustration by Dan Swart. Part of the uniform edition of Bosman titles.
- Physical Format: Large softcover (trade paperback style), 144 pages.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
- The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior / Wraps: The glossy illustrated wrappers are bright and colourful. The spine is clean with no visible creasing and the corners are reasonably sharp. There is a slight upward curl to the lower corner of the front cover and a small light mark near the top left edge of the back cover. The page block edges are tanned.
- Interior: The pages are toned throughout, as is typical of the paper stock. The text is clean with no markings seen, and the binding is tight.
- The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)
Synopsis & Historical Value
Mafeking Road gathers twenty-one short stories narrated by the laconic Oom Schalk Lourens, who recalls life in the Groot Marico district of the Transvaal. Love, hatred, betrayal and death are woven together with a light, whimsical and often satirical touch.
The stories are set in the Marico, in the years during and between the two Anglo-Boer Wars, and feature lethargic herdsmen, ambitious concertina players, legendary leopards and mambas. It was the first published collection of the Oom Schalk Lourens stories and is regarded as Bosman's best-known and best-loved work.
This copy is from the Human & Rousseau uniform edition of eight Bosman titles, with a cover illustration by Dan Swart. It makes a handsome and affordable reading copy for any collection of South African literature.
Author Profile: Herman Charles Bosman
Herman Charles Bosman (1905-1951) is widely regarded as South Africa's greatest short-story writer. After graduating from the University of the Witwatersrand he taught in the Groot Marico, the district that later became the setting for his best-loved stories.
His other notable works include Cold Stone Jug (1949), a collection of sardonic, comic prison sketches, and the novel Jacaranda in the Night. His life is the subject of Valerie Rosenberg's biography Sunflower to the Sun.
Mafeking Road Bosman · Herman Charles Bosman short stories · Oom Schalk Lourens stories · Groot Marico stories · Human & Rousseau Bosman uniform edition · South African literature paperback · Bosman Mafeking Road 1996
