Better than they Knew - Ed. R.M. de Villiers

Better than they knew - Ed R. M. de Villiers - Two volumes - 1972 & 1974  - First editions - Purnell - Numerous black & white illustrations and photographs - Hardcovers in good condition - Dustcovers show very slight wear - Internally clean and tightly bound - Previous owner's name on first page of Volume one - Internally clean and tightly bound.

The South Africa of today is the product of yesterday's work, genius and devotion of men and women of all creeds, castes and colours.These two volumes outline part of the particular contribution made by English-speaking men and women, primarily in the twentieth century. It does so by tellig the personal stories of individuals who have made a mark in their own sphere - in goverment, science, literature, mining, education, theatre, commerce, human relations, the preservation of wild life, and in the field of sport generally.

It is an absorbing tale of achievement, often against great odds, and adds a new dimension to the stirring history of South Africa. Each chapter has been contributed by an authority in his own field, the writers including personalities like Arthur Bleksley, A. P. Cartwright, Edgar Brooks, Pat Storrar, Whitmore Richards and Davie Marquard.

With the writing of this book, it was just a century and a half ago that the first major wave of immigrants of British descent landed on these shores. They brought with them, as this book points out, the habits of free men which were handed down to succeeding generations of Anglo-Saxons as they became South Africans. Once they had made there mark in the forbidding if not inhospital countryside between Port Elzabeth and Grahamstown, they and their infuence spread to the four corners of their new fatherland.

It is fitting, therefor, that this tribute to the tremendous contribution they made to South Africa appeared at the same time as the celebrations held to mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the 1820 Settlers in Algoa Bay.