The Illustrated Bosman by Herman Charles Bosman

The Illustrated Bosman (Illustrated Bosman Selection in Dust Jacket)

A Lavishly Illustrated Selection of Herman Charles Bosman's Marico Stories, with Artwork by Peter Badcock

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The Illustrated Bosman
• Author: Herman Charles Bosman
• Publisher: Southern Book Publishers ; Human & Rousseau, Johannesburg ; Cape Town and Pretoria
• Publication Date: 1985
• ISBN-13: 9780868501123
• ISBN-10: 0868501123
• Edition Details: Fifth impression, 1991, of the 1985 illustrated selection.
• Binding: Publisher's purple cloth boards with a printed, illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Large quarto-size hardcover, illustrated throughout with colour and black-and-white plates and photographs.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
• Exterior / Boards: The plain dark purple-brown cloth boards are clean, with no visible damage. The fore-edge and text block are slightly toned.
• Interior: The pages are clean and bright on cream paper, with no markings or foxing. The binding is tight and the book opens flat. The colour plates are clean.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. The glossy, illustrated purple jacket carries framed Peter Badcock artworks on the front and a portrait on the back. There is slight chipping and wear to the spine head, light rubbing and small nicks to the top edge and corners, and a slight crease to the edge of the front flap. The jacket is to be protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

The Illustrated Bosman gathers stories and essays by Herman Charles Bosman, widely regarded as South Africa's greatest short-story writer. The selection is built around his Marico tales told by Oom Schalk Lourens, among them "In the Withaaks Shade", "Mafeking Road" and "White Ant".

What sets this volume apart is its generous illustration. Peter Badcock's colour and black-and-white drawings accompany the text throughout, and the book also carries photographs by David Goldblatt. A preface looks at the places and people behind the stories. The back cover recalls Roy Campbell's praise of Bosman's stories.

This is a handsome, large-format way to read one of the great voices of South African storytelling, and an appealing collectible copy for admirers of Bosman, of Badcock's artwork, and of Africana literature.

Author Profile: Herman Charles Bosman

Herman Charles Bosman was born in 1905 at Kuils River near Cape Town and died in 1951. After graduating he taught in the Groot Marico district, the landscape that later fed his best-known fiction. He was convicted of shooting his stepbrother and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to ten years. After his release he worked as a journalist in Johannesburg.

He is best known for the Oom Schalk Lourens stories, collected in Mafeking Road. Cold Stone Jug (1949) draws on his prison experience, and his first novel was Jacaranda in the Night. Only three of his books appeared in his lifetime. The Collected Works, edited by Lionel Abrahams, appeared in 1981.

Herman Charles Bosman illustrated · Oom Schalk Lourens stories · Marico short stories · Peter Badcock illustrations · Bosman Mafeking Road stories · South African short stories hardcover · Illustrated Bosman 1985