The Kalahari and Its Lost City by AJ Clement
The Kalahari and Its Lost City (First Edition, 1967)
The Definitive, Rigorous Archival and Scientific Resolution to Southern Africa's Most Tantalising Desert Enigma
The Definitive, Rigorous Archival and Scientific Resolution to Southern Africa's Most Tantalising Desert Enigma
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: The Kalahari and Its Lost City
- Author: A.J. Clement (Arthur John Clement)
- Publisher: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., Johannesburg / London
- Publication Date: 1967
- ISBN: None Issued (Pre-dates widespread standard ISBN implementation)
- Edition Details: First Edition
- Binding: Original publisher's premium textured paper-covered boards, featuring cartographic endpaper maps indexing early regional tracking lines.
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), xvi + 214 pages. Profusely illustrated throughout with primary historical maps, photographic plates, sketches, geological charts, facsimiles, and daily travel tables.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior / Covers: The original hard covers remain structurally flat, square, and robust. Minimal shelf wear is visible along the baseline boards, with corners remaining clean and crisp. The spine is uncreased, unbroken, and tightly bound.
- Interior: Complete and firmly intact across all 214 pages. The text block, extensive appendices, and archival plates are exceptionally clean, clear, and white—free of user highlighting, modern library stamps, or dog-ears.
- Preservation Note: This volume has been meticulously looked after and is professionally housed in a protective Cellophane cover to prevent exterior friction and preserve its beautiful display state.
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The Dust Jacket: Good Plus (G+)
- Condition Details: The original unclipped pictorial dust jacket accompanies the book beneath the protective cellophane wrapper. It exhibits standard, age-related shelf handling wear and minor marking along the margins and spine extremities, completely normal for a Longmans wrapper of this vintage, but it remains structurally complete and displays beautifully.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1967, The Kalahari and Its Lost City is widely celebrated as the definitive cornerstone work that solved one of Southern Africa’s most enduring mysteries. The enigma began in 1885 when the flamboyant American showman, inventor, and explorer Gilarmi A. Farini (the stage persona of William Leonard Hunt) staged a daring expedition into the uncharted sands of the western Kalahari. Upon his return, Farini’s 1886 text, Through the Kalahari Desert, and his landmark lecture to the Royal Geographical Society described a monumental discovery: the crumbling, half-buried stone ruins of an ancient, undocumented city. This fabled "Lost City" sparked massive global fascination, leading to more than twenty fully equipped institutional search parties—using camels, jeeps, and light aircraft—and countless private adventurers who combed the desert floor for a century without success.
Published in 1967, The Kalahari and Its Lost City is widely celebrated as the definitive cornerstone work that solved one of Southern Africa’s most enduring mysteries. The enigma began in 1885 when the flamboyant American showman, inventor, and explorer Gilarmi A. Farini (the stage persona of William Leonard Hunt) staged a daring expedition into the uncharted sands of the western Kalahari. Upon his return, Farini’s 1886 text, Through the Kalahari Desert, and his landmark lecture to the Royal Geographical Society described a monumental discovery: the crumbling, half-buried stone ruins of an ancient, undocumented city. This fabled "Lost City" sparked massive global fascination, leading to more than twenty fully equipped institutional search parties—using camels, jeeps, and light aircraft—and countless private adventurers who combed the desert floor for a century without success.
While many dismissed Farini as a fraud, legendary claims continued to accumulate from independent parties who alleged finding stone walls in regions hundreds of miles apart. It remained for Dr. A.J. Clement to systematically crack the riddle. Conducting a staggering volume of research, Clement cross-examined early news reels, shipping logs, rail timetables, and the physical limits of an ox-wagon moving through heavy Kalahari sand. By checking Farini's exact compass bearings, Clement pinpointed the true location of the "ruins"—proving they were an extraordinary, deceptive natural geological formation of matching dolerite blocks. Featuring an authoritative foreword by legendary anthropologist Professor Phillip V. Tobias, this magnificent text functions as both an exciting adventure narrative and a flawless record of nineteenth-century desert exploration.
To aid researchers, the book features nine vital historical appendices:
- Appendix A: The exact daily travel schedule of the original Farini Expedition.
- Appendix B: Official passenger lists of the historic vessels Roslin Castle and Drummond Castle.
- Appendix C: Full transcript of Farini's press interview from The Cape Argus (22 July 1885).
- Appendix D: Full text of Farini's lecture to the Royal Geographical Society (8 March 1886).
- Appendix E: Transcripts of promotional pamphlets for "Farini's African Pygmies or Dwarf Earthmen" exhibited at London's Royal Westminster Aquarium (1884).
- Appendix F: The rare map key drawn by D.D. Pritchard for Captain Leslie, preserved in the F.R. Paver papers.
- Appendix G: Detailed index of the Farini photographs and their handwritten inscriptions in the Paver archive.
- Appendix H: Extended biographical dossiers on Farini and his frontier associates.
- Appendix I: A chronological register of all recorded Lost City search expeditions, accompanied by an extensive bibliography.
Author Profile: A.J. Clement
Dr. Arthur John Clement was an eminent British-born South African researcher, historian, and corporate academic who became one of the foremost authorities on the exploration of the Kalahari Desert. A founder-member, alongside Professor Phillip V. Tobias, of the celebrated Kalahari Research Committee of the University of the Witwatersrand, Clement combined a rigorous scientific mind with a deep passion for frontier history. His historical and geographical articles were widely published in global journals, earning him immense respect for his ability to solve historical myths through geographic and archival analysis. His meticulous approach to field mapping and primary documents ensured that The Kalahari and Its Lost City remains a benchmark reference work, highly prized by international antiquarian dealers, desert historians, and collectors of classic South African Africana.
Dr. Arthur John Clement was an eminent British-born South African researcher, historian, and corporate academic who became one of the foremost authorities on the exploration of the Kalahari Desert. A founder-member, alongside Professor Phillip V. Tobias, of the celebrated Kalahari Research Committee of the University of the Witwatersrand, Clement combined a rigorous scientific mind with a deep passion for frontier history. His historical and geographical articles were widely published in global journals, earning him immense respect for his ability to solve historical myths through geographic and archival analysis. His meticulous approach to field mapping and primary documents ensured that The Kalahari and Its Lost City remains a benchmark reference work, highly prized by international antiquarian dealers, desert historians, and collectors of classic South African Africana.
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