Cape Town by Cecil Lewis & G. E. Edwards

Cape Town (Revised Edition in Illustrated Dust Jacket)

An Illustrated Portrait of the Buildings, Treasures and Character of the Mother City of South Africa

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Cape Town: Treasures of the Mother-City of South Africa
• Authors: Cecil Lewis & G. E. Edwards
• Publisher: The Specialty Press of S.A. Ltd., Cape Town; Wynberg, Cape
• Publication Date: 1934
• ISBN: None Issued (Pre-ISBN Era)
• Edition Details: Revised Edition, 1934. Bears a pencil signature on a preliminary page.
• Binding: Hardcover, offered in a printed pictorial dust jacket with a colour illustration pasted to the front panel.
• Physical Format: Medium-large octavo. Illustrated with a colour frontispiece, Spring Flowers in Adderley Street, and further colour and black-and-white illustrations.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Boards: The red pictorial dust jacket carries a pasted-on colour illustration. There is loss at the right edge of the front panel, with grey material visible beneath, and patches of staining or discolouration across the front. A crease runs through the illustration. The spine head is chipped with some loss, and the spine is sunned to orange. The jacket is protected in a clear cover.
• Interior: The title page is clean apart from a few small brown spots. A colour plate with its tissue guard faces the title page. A pencil signature and a figure appear on a preliminary page.
• Provenance: A pencil signature on a preliminary page, not legible, with what appears to be a number or date beside it.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. Red pictorial jacket with loss at the right edge of the front panel, loss and chipping at the spine head, a sunned spine, staining to the front and a crease in the illustration. Protected in a clear cover and a Mylar sleeve.

Synopsis & Historical Value

First published in 1927 and offered here in its 1934 revised edition, Cape Town: Treasures of the Mother-City of South Africa is an illustrated guide to the city's historic buildings, natural setting and character. It is written in an appreciative, affectionate tone for visitors and residents alike.

The book combines text with colour and black-and-white illustrations, opening with a colour frontispiece of Spring Flowers in Adderley Street. It gives a good sense of how Cape Town presented itself in the 1930s, and it will appeal to collectors of Cape Town history, Africana and topographical books.

The survival of the original pictorial dust jacket adds to the interest of this copy, since jackets on books of this period are frequently lost.

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