Out of the Crucible by Hedley A. Chilvers - Witwatersrand Goldfields

Out of the Crucible by Hedley A. Chilvers

*Out of the Crucible*, published in 1929 by Cassell and Company in London, is a romantic historical account by Hedley A. Chilvers chronicling the discovery and development of the Witwatersrand goldfields in South Africa. It details the 18841886 exploits of prospectors Fred Struben and George Walker, who uncovered a vast £2 billion goldfield on a remote African plateau, sparking the rapid rise of Johannesburg as a booming metropolis. Illustrated by William M. Timlin and drawing on pioneers' personal stories, the book captures the era's hardships, triumphs, and transformative impact on global history.

The book still have it's dust cover. This copy printed 1929 (a reprint, printed same year as the first edition).

A interesting feature of this book, besides the contents, is the way it was made. The pages edges were not cut cleanly, and are irregular/jagged. Also, some of the pages were not cut to separate them (see last photo). One would need to cut them to separate them to read the contents. Near the end there is a page with some printing at the bottom which is clearly not meant to be there (see 2rd last photo). It's seems the book was hastily made with not much care for quality control, but it is original to it's period, and this is how the book was made in 1929.

Some tears on the cover and some of the pages. The book is remarkably clean with almost no foxing.