30 nagte in Amsterdam by Etienne van Heerden

30 nagte in Amsterdam (First Edition, First Printing Afrikaans Novel)

An Award-Winning Afrikaans Family Saga Moving Between Amsterdam and the Eastern Cape

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: 30 nagte in Amsterdam: 'n roman
• Author: Etienne van Heerden
• Publisher: Tafelberg, Kaapstad
• Publication Date: 2008
• ISBN-13: 9780624047070
• ISBN-10: 0624047075
• Edition Details: First Edition (Eerste uitgawe), First Printing (Eerste druk), 2008.
• Binding: Publisher's illustrated card wrappers, large softcover (trade paperback) format, with a dark spine and dotted title lettering.
• Physical Format: Large softcover (trade paperback), 448 pages. With maps of the Eastern Cape and Amsterdam by Bennie Kruger.
• Language: Afrikaans

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
• Exterior / Wraps: The illustrated wrappers are clean and attractive. The dark spine is clean, with slight roughness along the top edge. There is slight whitening to the bottom corner of the front cover. A white Tafelberg barcode sticker is affixed over the artwork at the lower right of the back cover.
• Interior: The text block is tight and the cream pages are clean, with slight toning to the page edges. No foxing, markings or loose pages.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

Published by Tafelberg in 2008, 30 nagte in Amsterdam ('n roman) is a novel by Etienne van Heerden. Henk de Melker, a museum assistant in a small Eastern Cape town, inherits his aunt Zan's house in Amsterdam and must decide whether to make a new life there or return to South Africa.

The story moves between Graaff-Reinet in the 1950s and 1960s and the recent past, weaving an Afrikaans family saga with the long shadow of apartheid. History is never far away: one reviewer notes that the protagonist works in a museum office beneath the beam from which the Slagtersnek rebels were hanged.

The novel was recognised with the W.A. Hofmeyr Prize in 2009, and Van Heerden received the Hertzog Prize in 2010. This is the first printing of the first Afrikaans edition, a sound copy for collectors of modern Afrikaans literature.

Author Profile: Etienne van Heerden

Etienne van Heerden was born in Johannesburg in 1954. He graduated from Stellenbosch and later completed a Master's at Wits and a PhD at Rhodes. He trained as a lawyer and worked in advertising before becoming a lecturer, and he holds the Hofmeyr chair at the University of Cape Town.

His debut novel Toorberg appeared in 1986, and The Long Silence of Mario Salviati followed in 2000. He is also the founding editor of the cultural website LitNet.

30 nagte in Amsterdam first edition · Etienne van Heerden Afrikaans novel · Etienne van Heerden Tafelberg 2008 · Afrikaans literary fiction first printing · Hertzog Prize winning author · Afrikaans family saga apartheid novel