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a black and white photo of a man holding a baseball bata black and white photo of a tiger laying on the ground next to a manfour old books sitting on top of each other on a white surface
Jeschke Jádi Auctions Berlin

Estimate €600 - €800
Sale commission
Description
South Africa Duggan-Cronin, Alfred Martin The Bantu Tribes of South Africa. Reproductions of Photographic Studies. 6 (of 11) volumes. With 196 plates in heliogravure based on the author’s photographs. Cambridge and Kimberley, Cambridge University Press for Deighton, Bell & Co. and the Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum, 1929–54. 23 (1) pp., 26 plates; 49 (3) pp., 26 plates; 34 pp., 26 plates; 36 pp., 40 plates. 32 pp., 32 plates and 40 pp., 46 plates. 4°. Hardback volumes with front and rear titles (Vol. II.1 with missing pages and heavily stained; spine reinforced with tape). A large sub-collection of the first edition of this comprehensive photographic documentation of the indigenous peoples of southern Africa. – The photographs by the Irish-born South African Duggan-Cronin (1874–1954), taken during years of travel across the southern part of the continent, depict the Black people of South Africa as inhabitants meticulously classified by tribe and group, living in “seemingly timeless and archaic rural areas bound by the customs of the past”. Although Duggan-Cronin’s photographs are renowned for their outstanding technical composition and were described by Nelson Mandela as ‘a matter of national pride’, they have also been criticised for reducing Black people to ethnographic types.” (cf. The Walther Collection). - The following volumes are available: II.1 (Bechuana, 1929) and II.2 (Bapedi, 1931), II.3 (Basotho, 1933), IV.2 (Vachopi, 1936), III.4 (Nguni (Swazi), 1941) and III.5 (Nguni (Baca, Hlubi, Xesibe), 1954). The introductory anthropological essays by H. Beemer, W. Eiselen, H-P. Junod, G. P. Lestrade and W. D. Hammond-Tooke. – All plates featuring photographs reproduced in sharp, high-contrast heliogravure, with bound-in silk covers, each bearing the number, title and a brief descriptive text. - Edges occasionally with slight finger stains; individual leaves slightly browned throughout; overall, a well-preserved large partial set of this work, which is of great significance in terms of ethnography and the history of photography. A large partial set from the first edition of this most important photographic record of the indigenous peoples of southern Africa. - The photographs by the Irish-born South African Duggan-Cronin (1874–1954), taken during years of travel across the southern part of the continent, depict the Black peoples of South Africa as inhabitants meticulously classified by tribe and group, living in “seemingly timeless and archaic rural areas bound by the customs of the past. Although Duggan-Cronin’s photographs are renowned for their outstanding technical composition and were described by Nelson Mandela as ‘a matter of national pride’, they have also been criticised for reducing Black people to ethnographic types.” (cf. The Walther Collection). - The following volumes are available: II.1 (Bechuana, 1929) and II.2 (Bapedi, 1931), II.3 (Basotho, 1933), IV.2 (Vachopi, 1936), III.4 (Nguni (Swazi), 1941) and III.5 (Nguni (Baca, Hlubi, Xesibe), 1954). The introductory anthropological essays by H. Beemer, W. Eiselen, H-P. Junod, G. P. Lestrade and W. D. Hammond-Tooke. - All plates featuring photographs reproduced in sharp, high-contrast photogravure, with pre-bound tissue papers on which the number, title and a brief descriptive text are printed. - Edges occasionally with slight foxing; individual leaves slightly browned throughout. Overall, a well-preserved partial set of this most remarkable work.
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About the sale Valuable books, prints, historical photographs
Auction location
Auction time 10/24/2026 at 10:00 AM
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