Grahamstown in Early Photographs by Frank van der Riet

Grahamstown in Early Photographs (First Edition in Illustrated Dust Jacket)

A Pictorial Record of Victorian Grahamstown, Number 4 in the South African Yesterdays Series

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Grahamstown in Early Photographs
• Author: Frank van der Riet
• Publisher: David Philip, Publisher, Cape Town
• Publication Date: 1974
• ISBN-10: 0949968277
• Edition Details: First Edition, published 1974. South African Yesterdays, Number 4.
• Binding: Publisher's cloth boards with a printed pictorial dust jacket in sepia and dark blue, protected by a clear film cover.
• Physical Format: Upright quarto format, illustrated throughout with early black-and-white photographs. Contents list runs to page 108.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Boards: The cloth boards beneath the jacket show some blue colouring at the lower edge and some spreaded chipping. The jacket is covered in a clear protective film. Corners are not described.
• Interior: The paper is clean, with no obvious foxing. A round green institutional-style stamp, partly legible as 'ALBANY', appears on the copyright page.
• Provenance: Round green circular stamp on the copyright page, partly legible as 'ALBANY ...', apparently institutional in origin. No inscription or bookplate.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. Illustrated in sepia and dark blue, with chipping and nicking at the spine ends and along the top edge of the back panel, scuffs, rubbing, and some staining or toning, notably at the top of the front panel. Protected by a clear film cover and supplied in a Mylar sleeve.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Published in Cape Town by David Philip in 1974, Grahamstown in Early Photographs is the fourth title in the South African Yesterdays series. It gathers early photographs of the Eastern Cape settlement, drawing mainly on views from roughly 1865 to 1885.

The plates show the streets and buildings of the town, among them Bathurst Street, Hill Street, Beaufort Street, the Drostdy and the cathedral area. For anyone interested in the architecture and townscape of a Victorian Cape frontier town, it offers a visual record that written histories cannot.

The book is cited in heritage references on Grahamstown's buildings, and the photographs relate to the Van der Riet Collection held at the Cape Town Archives. It remains a useful companion for collectors of Eastern Cape Africana and South African photographic history.

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