FIRST EDITION, NUMBER 691 OF AN EDITION OF 1000
Hendrik Claudius - Water-Colours in the Africana Museum, FRANK CONNOCK PUBLICATION NO.1 , Johannesburg, 1952, Folio, 25 Plates, complete, 24.5 cms x 36 cms, condition: very good.
With notes on the early Dutch occupation at the Cape by ANNA SMITH, chief librarian of theJohannesburg Library (1960 - 1975).
Hendrik Claudius arrived in the Cape in 1682 and was a collector of medicinal plants and medical curiosities such as stones extracted from animals to which medicinal properties had been ascribed. For doing this he was to receive his normal pay and also "'drie swaere schellingen voor elck stuck dat hy op pampier off boecken, hem ten dien eynde medegegeven, sal brengen" (''three heavy shillings for each piece that he will bring on paper or books, given to him for that purpose.'').
He was kept in the service of the Dutch East India Company after Dr.Cleyer was transferred to Japan. This is a collection of some of his drawings, which were also copied by other artists. Total 36pp. including index, followed by 24 colour plates and 1 b/w plate. Text stitched, plates unbound as issued. Plates all in very good condition.
"'Between 1685 and 1686 Van de Stel led an expedition which penetrated as far as the Copper mountains of Namaqualand. It is generally believed that Claudius accompanied this expedition, many of his drawings bearing dates falling within this period or being preserved with accounts of this journey, but no list of the members of the expedition appears to have survived and no other contemporary evidence has been traced.?"( Anna Smith)
Anna Smith was the daughter of Johannes J. Smith (1883-1949), a prominent academic at the University of Stellenbosch. Her father was a philologist and compiled the first authoritative Afrikaans dictionary in 1926. Smith joined the Johannesburg Public Library in 1938 rising in the hierarchy until, in 1960, she became City Librarian and Director of the Africana Museum. In recommending her for the position, her predessesor, R.F. Kennedy had feared that the Johannesburg city councillors might have preferred a mediocre male to a brilliant woman. Fortunately, they appointed the latter. She was the first woman to head a Council Department in Johannesburg. .During Smiths tenure, in 1974, the main Johannesburg Public Library opened its doors to Black and Coloured readers. Her belief, and that of the city council at the time, was that the library should be inclusive of all citizens and available to them. Smiths philosophy was to encourage literacy and a love of books as well as an appreciation of reliable information.
