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| Please direct enquiries to your nearest bookseller or Sally MacRoberts | |
| ISBN Standard Edition | 0-909079-53-6 |
| ISBN De Luxe Edition | 0-909079-54-4 [out of print] |
Sunday, August 30, 1835
‘A splendid day. All the beautiful flowers coming out in such
glory that Mt & I
in pure rapture siezed on them and neglecting all other duties & occupations set to
work
I outlining & she colouring them.’
extract from the Cape diary of Sir John Herschel
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Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) has long been
recognised as one of Britain’s great nineteenth-century scientists. His
accomplishments in astronomy, mathematics and physics are well known, but this publication
focuses on his private interest in botany. A visit to the Cape of Good Hope from 1834 to 1838 to survey the southern skies exposed Herschel to another great natural wonder — the beauty and diversity of the Cape Flora. The profound impact this encounter had on both John and his wife Margaret resulted in a magnificent portfolio of botanical drawings, outlined by John using a camera lucida for scientific accuracy, and painted by Margaret. Herschel's restless analytical mind drew him from pure pleasure to consider deeper issues, among them the morphology of bulbs, the diversity of species, and botanical scents and perfumes. |
The Brenthurst Press once again drew on the resources of The Brenthurst Library and other relevant material (much of it unpublished and in private collections) to produce Flora Herscheliana: Sir John and Lady Herschel at the Cape, 1834 to 1838, by John Rourke and Brian Warner. The book is a glorious celebration of the Herschels’ fascination with the abundant beauty they discovered on the doorstep of Feldhausen, their home at the Cape.
| Please direct enquiries to your nearest bookseller or Sally MacRoberts | |
| ISBN Standard Edition | 0-909079-55-2 [out of print] |
| ISBN De Luxe Edition | 0-909079-56-0 |
Volumes 3 and 4
Academic Editor: Iain R. Smith
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When the opening shots of the South
African War reverberated across the world on 12 October 1899, the small dusty border town
of Mafeking with the adjacent Barolong settlement, was garrisoned and plunged into the
privations, dangers and destruction of a seven-month-long siege. It became one of the most
famous episodes of the war, and the fate of the town assumed a symbolic importance for
Britain and the Empire. This reappraisal was inspired initially by one of the most comprehensive single archives on the Siege of Mafeking, that of Lt.-Col. Courtenay Vyvyan, who served as Baden-Powell's second-in-command and variously as Base Commandant, Town Commandant and Commanding Engineer during the Siege. Afterwards he took over command in Mafeking and continued to serve in the western Transvaal. |
Please direct enquiries to your nearest bookseller or Sally MacRoberts
| ISBN Standard Edition | 0-909079-58-7 |
| ISBN De Luxe Edition | 0-909079-57-9 |
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Volume 5
| Intrepid traveller, pioneering naturalist, famous author, François Levaillant (1753-1824) was a celebrity in his own lifetime . The colourful accounts of his travels in southern Africa in the 1780s were widely read in seven languages. His sumptuous bird books, published in a golden age of natural history book production, recorded for posterity his extensive bird collections. Yet he has often been dismissed as a flamboyant Gallic adventurer with a cavalier regard for the truth. This new study seeks to re-examine this controversial figure against the backdrop of the world of natural history and its practice in the late European Enlightenment. The potent mix of science and commerce is reflected in Levaillant's fascinated pursuit of knowledge of the animal kingdom and his active trade in specimens during the social and political upheavals of the early 18th century. |  |
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The Brenthurst Library has 58 original watercolour paintings, mostly of birds of prey, the prototypes of published engravings in Oiseaux d'Afrique. Painted with brilliant clarity under Levaillant's supervision, these illustrations are reproduced at actual size to the highest standards. Levaillant's accompanying bird descriptions, including field observations, are fully translated into English for the first time, specifically for this edition, and are reassessed from the perspective of modern ornithology. Levaillant is revealed as a naturalist ahead of his time, vigorous and exceptionally skilled, whose work laid the foundations of African ornithology. |
Authors: Dr Kees Rookmaaker, zoologist and author of The Zoological Exploration of Southern Africa 1660-1790 (1989) Dr Peter Mundy, professor of ornithology in the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, an authority on birds of prey and the lead author of The Vultures of Africa (1992) Dr Ian Glenn, associate professor at the University of Cape Town, and researcher in France on the life of Levaillant Dr Emma Spary, specialist in the history of natural history and author of Utopia's Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution |
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Specifications |
Please direct enquiries to your nearest bookseller or Sally MacRoberts
| ISBN Standard Edition | 0-909079-59-5 |
| ISBN De Luxe Edition | 0-909079-60-9 |
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