Die suidhoek van Afrika by Karel Schoeman

Die suidhoek van Afrika (First Edition, First Printing in Dust Jacket)

Karel Schoeman's Afrikaans Anthology of Writings on the Cape under the Dutch East India Company, 1652–1806

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Die suidhoek van Afrika: geskrifte oor Suid-Afrika uit die Nederlandse tyd, 1652–1806
• Author: Karel Schoeman
• Publisher: Protea Boekhuis, Pretoria
• Publication Date: 2002
• ISBN-13: 9781919825526
• ISBN-10: 1919825525
• Edition Details: First Edition (Eerste uitgawe), First Printing (Eerste druk).
• Binding: Publisher's dark blue cloth boards with a printed, illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Medium-large octavo hardcover, 255 pages.
• Language: Afrikaans

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
• Exterior / Boards: Dark blue cloth boards, square and sound. Light rubbing and a few tiny white specks to the boards, with slight wear at the spine ends and the lower corner. No major damage. The top and fore-edges are clean and pale.
• Interior: The text block is clean and bright, and the binding appears tight. The pages examined are free of marks. A small faint spot to the blank flyleaf.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. A glossy illustrated jacket, clean and bright, with the author blurb to the flaps. It is protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Published in Pretoria by Protea Boekhuis in 2002, Die suidhoek van Afrika gathers writings on South Africa from the Dutch period, 1652 to 1806. Karel Schoeman has translated the texts into Afrikaans and supplied footnotes and editorial notes that place each piece in context.

Schoeman concentrated on writing by local residents and long-term settlers rather than passing visitors. His preface presents the collection as South Africa's earliest written literature. The selection includes period documents such as inventories and accounts of daily life at the Cape.

The volume is a valuable companion for anyone studying the VOC era and the formative centuries of Afrikaans-speaking society. It is cited in academic work. This first printing, in its illustrated dust jacket, is a collectible copy for Africana and Afrikaner history shelves.

Author Profile: Karel Schoeman

Karel Schoeman (1939–2017) was a South African novelist, historian and translator, born in Trompsburg and later resident in Bloemfontein. He studied languages at the University of the Free State and trained in library science. He worked as a librarian in Amsterdam and, after returning to South Africa in 1983, as an archivist at the South African National Library in Cape Town until 1998.

He won the Hertzog Prize for prose three times (1970, 1986 and 1995) and the CNA Prize in 1972. His novels include Promised Land (1972), Die Uur van die Engel (1995) and Titaan (2009), and he also produced a large body of non-fiction on South African history.

Die suidhoek van Afrika Karel Schoeman · Karel Schoeman first edition · VOC Cape history Afrikaans · Dutch period South Africa 1652–1806 · Protea Boekhuis 2002 · Afrikaans Africana anthology · early South African writing