Few people will have heard of this artist, but once you have read A. Gordon-Browns able account of his sojourn at the Cape in 1837-1839 and studied the magnificent paintings and sketches that adorn his book, you will perhaps agree the author has discovered a second Bowler .. .
The account of the authors research in the matter is fascinating in itself. He heard of Webb Smith when fol-lowing up a clue in regard to the identity of a Cape artist known only by his initials `J. W. He describes how evidence he collected as a result of a great deal of hard work in London pointed to Webb Smith being the artist who made many of the important Cape landscapes in the Library of Parliament in Cape Town hitherto attributed to `J. W. But the bird studies by Webb Smith in a setting of Cape flora and scenery, are perhaps the major feature of this beautiful volume.
Here then is a unique book, one that will appeal to all collectors of Africana and it can only increase in value as the years go by.
