The Cape Town office of Stephan Welz and Company is delighted to announce that their book department in Cape Town has been given a breath of life with Gary Shean at the helm.

 

Gary has taken on this department which has long languished without a dedicated specialist at the Cape Town office.

 

Amongst the sought after books on South African art is Walter Battiss’ Fook Book 2 (estimate R30 000 – 40 000) which was limited to 40 copies of which this copy is no 4/40.

 

Fook Island was created by Battiss who described it as such: “Fook Island lies to the South East of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a completely independent island with its own writing, its own songs, its own music, its own poetry, its own religion, its own stamps and coinage.”

 

Battiss reigned over this fictional island as King Ferd II of Fook and was known to have created regalia for for this title, much of which is now housed in the Walter Battiss Museum in Somerset East.

 

Also due under the hammer are out of print South African art books focussing on Pierneef, Maud Sumner and Adolph Jentsch amongst others. There are also copies of the sought after South African art bibles by both Esme Berman and Grania Ogilvie.

 

Also available for keen bibliophiles is a first edition copy of Oscar Wilde’s The Sphinx (estimate R4 000 – 6 000).

 

“This edition is limited to 1,000 copies and cannot be reprinted, as the stones from which the offset plates were printed were in Belgium at the time of the German invasions and were Destroyed,” says Shean of this fine work.

 

For further details please contact Gary Shean on 021 794-6461 or gary.shean@swelco.co.za