Die laaste Sondag by Elsa Joubert

Die laaste Sondag (First Edition, First Printing in Dust Jacket)

A Pastor and His Remote Afrikaner Flock in Elsa Joubert's Novel, Published by Tafelberg in 1983

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Die laaste Sondag
• Author: Elsa Joubert
• Publisher: Tafelberg-Uitgewers Beperk, Kaapstad
• Publication Date: 1983
• ISBN-10: 0624022412
• Edition Details: First Edition, First Printing (Eerste uitgawe, eerste druk).
• Binding: Publisher's dark grey cloth hardcover with a printed dust jacket in a grey, cream, orange and red typographic design.
• Physical Format: Octavo, roughly 210 x 135 mm. Standard novel format, without maps or plates.
• Language: Afrikaans

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
• Exterior / Boards: The dark grey cloth boards beneath the jacket are clean, with a few tiny light specks, and the corners are sharp. The jacket protects the boards well.
• Interior: The pages are cream and clean, with a tiny speck on the title page. The text block is tight and the text is legible. The page edges are lightly toned. No markings are present.
• The Dust Jacket: Present, in a grey, cream, orange and red typographic design by Gerhard Last. It shows light edge wear: small chips at the head and tail of the spine, a small chip at the top right corner of the back panel and a small nick at the lower edge. There is a small crease or tear near the top left of the front panel, by the author's name. The front flap carries an author portrait by Desmond Windell and is slightly curled at the top. Overall about Very Good. Protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Die laaste Sondag, published by Tafelberg in Cape Town in 1983, is a novel by Elsa Joubert, the author of Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena. It follows a pastor serving a remote community of Afrikaner farmers, who are only intermittently aware of the black townships that lie nearby.

The book grew directly out of a visit the author made to Angola. An English translation by Anna Jonker appeared as The Last Sunday (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1989), and a stage version was first produced by PACT in 1986.

This is a clean first printing in its original typographic dust jacket, of interest to collectors of Elsa Joubert and of Afrikaans literature of the early 1980s.

Author Profile: Elsa Joubert

Elsa Joubert (1922-2020) was born in Paarl and died in Cape Town. She taught at the Hoër Meisieskool in Cradock and was editor of Huisgenoot from 1946 to 1948. In 1950 she married the journalist and writer Klaas Steytler.

Her best-known work, Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (1978), was translated into 13 languages. Ons wag op die kaptein won the Eugène Marais prize in 1964, and Bonga won the CNA prize in 1971. Later honours include the Hertzog Prize in 1998 and an honorary doctorate from Stellenbosch University in 2001.