Beschreibung:

Duggan-Cronin, A M: photographer; G P Lestrade: introduction; Fiona Barber: foreword
The Bantu Tribes of South Africa. Vol II, Section I, Plates I-xxvi, The Suto-Chuana Tribes. Subgroup I: The Bechuana
Reproductions of photographic studies by A M Duggan-Cronin. With introductory articles on the Suto-Chuana Tribes and the Bechuana and descriptive notes on the by G P Lestrade, ethnologist, Native Affairs Department of the Union of South Africa
Published: Deighton, Bell & Co; Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum, Cambridge; Kimberley, 1929/1984
Originally published in 1929, this is a copy of a revised 1984 edition of 1000 copies sponsored by the Friends of the National Museum and Art Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana. Full-bound in black Skivertex with gilt lettering to the upper panel and spine, red-and-white plain endpapers, 24 pp of prelims and text on heavy off-white wove paper and 26 sepia photogravure plates on heavy cream matt art-paper with descriptive captions on the plates' tissue guards. From Fiona Barbour's foreword: " . . . Not only are many of the photographs themselves outstanding, but they depict a way of life now all but vanished. They were taken by Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin, an emigrant Irishman who set himself the task of recording every major tribe or tribal group in southern Africa. What inspired him, and what is the measure of his achievement? "Mr Cronin (the hyphenated surname was adopted later) was born in County Cork in 1874, one of eleven children, and trained initially for the Jesuit priesthood. Abandoning this calling, he came instead to South Africa in 1897 [and] joined the De Beers Company in Kimberley, working for them as compound guard, hospital dispenser and in the photostat department, until his retirement in 1932. He served in both the Anglo-Boer War and First World War, but otherwise lived all his life in Kimberley, where he died, unmarried, in 1954. "The hobby which was to bring him fame, but never fortune, started in 1904 when he bought a box camera and, in his own words, 'mastered the art of photography'. While best known for his tribal studies, his work includes birds, animals and people, buildings and landscapes, geology and botany, military operations and the mining industry. It is characterised by a natural eye for composition, an empathy with his subject and a flair for creating or capturing an atmosphere. Taken together, his collections constitute a social and historical record whose value is only now [1984] slowly being appreciated . . . " The above extract represents only about a third of Fiona Barber's impressive foreword, which is reproduced in full in the images, which also show part of G P Lestrade's introduction The copy would have been rated fine without the small chip at the bottom of the upper outside hinge, and insignificant light cracking between a few of the thread-sewn sections. Jacket Condition: No jacket (as published) Binding Condition: Very Good Overall Condition: Very Good Size: 300 x 220