The White Lady of the Brandberg

Rock Paintings of Southern Africa.

FIRST EDITION 1955

COFFEE TABLE SIZE BOOK LARGE

RARE VERY RARE HARDCOVER 

Collectors / UK Auction House value between  R2000 to R5500 

The exquisite color plates...fold out plates...are a sight to behold...this type of book will be too expensive to publish today...

 With a coloured frontispiece, a small map in text, 13 coloured plates (2 folding, images numbered I-XXII), and 5 collotype plates with photographs (1 folding, each plate with several photographs). The so-called "White Lady", a rock face painting near the foot of Brandberg mountain in Namibia, was discovered in 1918 by the German explorer Reinhard Maack. The book s text describes the apparent origin of the painting and the researchers' excavation methods. The painting shows a ritual dance, and the drawing is in fact a representation of a male shaman. It was Henri Breuil (1877-1961) who coined the name "White Lady" and suggested a relation to paintings at Knossos a bit of fanciful archaeology which implied a visitation by Mediterranean travelers (Maack suggested a warrior figure, but is was 1918 and there were still quite a few still around).