Valley of the Eland - Venn Fey (signed copy)

Condition: Good. Some foxing on end pages.
Format: Hardcover with DJ
Published: 1984 (Timmins)
Pages: 183
ISBN: 0869782622

**signed by author and illustrator**

Valley of the Eland is the story of the transience of humans, individually and collectively, and the impermanence of their works, set in the majestic, overpowering and yet incomparably beautiful Drakensberg. Man builds, and in so doing, destroys: and yet, in spite of all his efforts, nature fights back and survives, shrugging off the irritant, emerging reborn, if not unscathed. But man is not entirely evil.

Venn Fey has been brought to a fine appreciation of the harmony which can exist between man and nature in his relationships with the people of his beloved valley. Brian Booth, to whom the book is dedicated, is perhaps the most significant. Grandson of the great evangelist William Booth, his fortitude, and that of his family, have given the author an entirely new vision of mans role in the greater ecology. The valley of the eland is also the valley of the ancient people of Africa, and the rich fauna which co-existed with them in a delicate balance. It is a valley of strength, of renewal of peace.

In spite of the changes, the view of the valley so carefully detailed here, with all its people, animals, mountains and vleis, is singular and striking, with the mighty crags, weathered, and seemingly eternal, brooding over all.