THE KNYSNA STORY - Arthur Nimmo

Juta & Company, 1976. Hardcover with dustcover, 152 pages. 

Very good condition. Name of former owner in front. Fold in first endpaper. The dustcover has some fatigue. The book is tightly bound and neat.

One of the very earliest travellers, Le Vaillant, went into ecstasies over the beauties of this area and, despite the ruthless exploitation down the years since then, it still charms us all. Travellers, naturalists, journalists and others have given us sketches and descriptions from its past, and now Arthur Nimmo has presented us with a sequential record of its history. When we think of Knysna we think of its forests, and here the author gives the drama of the struggle for the survival of this unique and precious feature of Outeniqualand, ending with the miracle of its rescue by World War II, and the present gallant struggle for the restoration to its former glory by the Department of Forestry. Through it all runs the dream of James Callander and of the men who down the years have worked and hoped to make Knysna a major port and a commercial centre, and who failed; but the story goes on to point the way to a future which can be just as great but nevertheless more in keeping with the everlasting beauty of mountain and forest, lake and sea. The author pleads for another Colonel Stevenson-Hamilton, another Hendrik van der Bijl to pick up the torch lit by the Men of the Forests and create one of those precious places where South Africans can relax and seek the restoration of their souls. Above all he sees in all this hope for a new deal and a better future for the Outeniquas, the men who could once again be loaded with honey.