Offerland by F. A. Venter

Offerland (Ninth Printing 1976 of Venter's Great Trek Novel)

The Opening Volume of F. A. Venter's Great Trek Tetralogy, in Afrikaans (Land of Sacrifice)

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Offerland
• Author: F. A. Venter
• Publisher: Tafelberg-Uitgewers, Kaapstad
• Publication Date: 1976
• ISBN-10: 0624006204
• Edition Details: Ninth Printing (Negende druk), 1976, of the first edition of 1963 (Eerste uitgawe 1963). Not a first printing.
• Binding: Publisher's orange cloth boards, lettered in cream to front board and spine.
• Physical Format: Medium-sized hardcover novel. Endpapers printed with a map of the Great Trek showing Natal, the Drakensberge and Port Natal, with compass rose.
• Language: Afrikaans

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Boards: Orange cloth boards with cream lettering to front and spine. The spine ends, head and tail show slight rubbing and fraying. There are small white nicks to the spine and to the front board near the lower edge, and a few small pale specks on the back board. The corners are slightly bumped. The fore-edge and page block are toned.
• Interior: The text pages are toned but clean and legible, with no markings seen. The binding is tight. The front pastedown shows a patch of paper loss or surface lifting at the upper right edge, with staining and a faint pencil mark nearby. The printed endpaper map at the rear is clean.
• Provenance: No inscriptions, bookplates or stamps, apart from a faint pencil mark on the front endpaper.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Present

Synopsis & Historical Value

Offerland is the first novel in F. A. Venter's Great Trek tetralogy, a sequence of the 1960s that continues with Geknelde land, Gelofteland and Bedoelde land. Written in Afrikaans, it is sometimes known in English as Land of Sacrifice. This is the ninth printing of 1976 from Tafelberg, Cape Town, of a work first published in 1963.

The novel follows the early phase of the Great Trek, including the Battle of Vegkop, the punitive expedition against the Matabele, the crossing of the Drakensberg into Natal, the killing of Piet Retief and the attacks at Bloukrans. Voortrekker leaders such as Retief, Maritz and Potgieter appear as the trekkers debate where to settle and what the journey will demand of them.

The printed endpaper map of the Trek route, taking in Natal, the Drakensberge and Port Natal, adds to the appeal. It is a sound, honestly worn copy for collectors of Afrikaans historical fiction, Great Trek literature and Venter's complete tetralogy.

Author Profile: F. A. Venter

Francois Alwyn Venter was born in Hopetown on 27 November 1916 and died in Strand on 8 July 1997. He studied at Stellenbosch University and began work as a journalist in 1938. He also wrote under the pen name Meiring Fouché.

Venter received the Hertzog Prize for prose in 1961 for Swart pelgrim and Geknelde land. His Great Trek tetralogy, of which Offerland is the first volume, remains his best-known body of work.