Clarke's Africana and Rare Books

Home
South Africa
Cape Town
Clarke's Africana and Rare Books

Bookshop specialising in Africana and rare books, vintage photography, ephemera and maps & prints. Also Maps, prints and ephemera. Items can be mailed worldwide.

Clarke's Africana & Rare Books specialises in Africana books, prints, maps, ephemera and vintage photography. Items for sale cover a wide variety of categories, including: African exploration and travel, missionary endeavour, ethnography, Bushmen and rock art, big-game hunting, military history - the Anglo Boer War, Boer War ephemera, Zulu War and the First World War in East Africa and South West

Africa, natural history (botany, ornithology, etc.), Mining (particularly diamonds and gold), Natal & Zululand, Namibia, art & architecture, literature & politics.

14/07/2026

On AntiquarianAuctions.com # 132: THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF SOUTH AFRICA (Volumes 1-20).

A magazine containing coloured figures with descriptions of the indigenous flowering plants of Africa, edited by J.B. Pole-Evans, D.J.B. Killick, O.A. Leistner and G. Germishuizen

Published: London & South Africa, 1921 - 1940

Bidding open 9 to 16 July.

11/07/2026

On AntiquarianAuctions.com # 132: The Birds of Southern Rhodesia by Capt. Cecil D. Priest (first edition).

This comprehensive survey documents the region's avifauna through distribution records, nesting observations, taxonomy, and field studies, drawing on the research of leading southern African ornithologists of the era.

Bidding closes on the 16 July.

05/07/2026

Listed on AntiquarianAuctions.com #132 is a first edition of H.C. Andrews' Geraniums; or, A Monograph of the Genus Geranium (1805).

Featuring 62 hand-coloured engraved plates, this celebrated botanical work documents the remarkable diversity of geraniums and pelargoniums being introduced from the Cape of Good Hope in the early 19th century. Andrews not only illustrated the plants but also engraved, coloured, and published the work himself.

As was common at the time, Geraniums was issued in parts or fascicles, individual instalments delivered to subscribers over time, rather than as a finished bound book and this may explain why complete copies are scarce.

01/07/2026

AntiquarianAuctions.com # 132 features a selection of silver-gelatin photographs by renowned photographer Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin, including a number of signed prints. Best known for documenting the diverse cultures of southern Africa in the early 20th century, his photographs provide an important visual record of African societies during a period of transition.

Preview goes live on 3 July.

25/06/2026

A rare photographic glimpse into "Old Knysna".

This album by James Ernest Jones contains 44 silver gelatin prints dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, documenting Knysna during the timber-boom and Millwood gold-rush era.

Jones opened his Knysna studio in 1894, photographing local views, scenery and community life. Many images are accompanied by handwritten captions from local historian Margaret Parkes.

Offered in www.AntiquarianAuctions.com 132.

02/06/2026

On AntiquarianAuctions.com # 131 A.A. Balkema’s Folio Facsimile Reprints of some of the great Africana works by Daniell, Baines, and Angas.

These large-format editions reproduce the artistry and detail of the originals, offering a window into Southern Africa’s early visual record.

Bidding open 28 May to 4 June - https://antiquarianauctions.com/category/africana

28/05/2026

South African resistance history on AntiquarianAuction.com # 131.

These 1985 silkscreen posters for public meetings organised by The Call of Islam captures the bold, urgent visual language of the Cape anti-apartheid movement. They were printed in bold colours and produced through the Community Arts Project (CAP) in Woodstock. They were designed to be difficult to trace under apartheid security laws.

The Call of Islam, founded in 1984 by Ebrahim Rassool and Farid Esack, became an influential UDF affiliate that mobilised communities through meetings, marches, and activism across the Western Cape.

26/05/2026

“Harris's work is valuable as it presents a detailed picture of the South African game fields prior to the growing pressure of civilization” (Czech, K.)

On AntiquarianAuctions.com 131: two Bombay first editions of William Cornwallis Harris’s Narrative of an Expedition into Southern Africa During the Years 1836, and 1837, alongside the London fifth (and best) edition titled The Wild Sports of Southern Africa.

Among the landmark works of Africana, exploration, and big game hunting.

Bidding opens 28 May at 16:30 GMT. Go to www.antiquarianauctions.com to register to bid.

15/05/2026

Two letters written on 5 December 1899 by Colonel Robert Baden-Powell and Gordon Wilson to Lady Sarah Wilson while she was held prisoner behind Boer lines.

In the correspondence Baden-Powell expresses concern for Lady Sarah’s safety and appeals for her release. Lady Sarah — sister of Lord Randolph Churchill and aunt of Winston Churchill — would later return to Mafeking, serving as both a nurse and one of the first female war correspondents during the siege.

Offered alongside is Baden-Powell’s Sketches in Mafeking & East Africa, a work filled with his own illustrations and observations drawn from his military experiences in Mafeking and East Africa.

On AntiquarianAuctions.com; preview now live.

14/04/2026

We have listed a selection of botanical books on AntiquarianAuctions.com # 130 — many of which are De Luxe Collector’s Editions.

Bidding closes 16 April — go to the site to view and bid.

Address

Cape Town

Telephone

+27217940600

Website

http://www.clarkes.co.za/, https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:b541816c-fa8d-4444-8d14-51fd99e8eb77

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Clarke's Africana and Rare Books posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your business to be the top-listed Shop in Cape Town?