Book of the Month March 2012

Kader Asmal : Politics in my blood a memoir / by Kader Asmal & Adrian Hadland with Moria Levy

Kader Asmal, lawyer and teacher, South African Cabinet minister,and the driving force behind the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, has been called man things - "small, bustling, curious, courageous, indefatigable" (Irish times) and "dapper, combative, witty, cantankerous, sarcastic, urbane precisely spoken" (Sunday Times). The son of a small-town shopkeeper from Natal, his life took him as far as exile in the UK, on to a senior position at Trinity College Dublin, and back to a free South Africa governed by an exemplary Constitution, which he helped device.
These memoirs are not only Asmal's personal journey. They are also the story of South Africa's transition from apartheid to freedom and democracy, in which he played a significant role, as a member of the ANC's Constitutional Committee and negotiating team and later as an MP and Cabinet minister under Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. They provide testimony, too , to Asmal's lifelong dedication to freedom, equality and justice - ideals enshrined in the country's Bill of Rights, which he played a major part in writing.

Source : Kader Asmal : Politics in my blood a memoir / by Kader Asmal & Adrian Hadland with Moira Levy.

Book of the Month Jan/Feb 2012

Summa Angelica de casibus conscientiae by Angelo Carletti di Chivasso printed in 1491 in Strassburg by Martin Flach.


The first edition of the Summa Angelica appeared in the year 1476 and from that year to the year 1520 it went through 31 editions, 25 of which are preserved in the Royal Library at Munich. The "Summa" is divided into 659 articles arranged in alphabetical order and forming what would now be called a dictionary of moral theology. The most important of these articles is the one entitled "Interrogationes in Confessione". It serves, in a way, as an index to the whole work.

This incunabulum ( a book, pamphlet or broadside that was printed (not handwritten) before the year 1501 in Europe) was donated to the library by Prof. A. van Selms. It is the oldest book in die Library and is still in excellent condition, the binding intact and a few pages showing slight water damage.

Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chivasso was a noted moral theologian of the Order of Friars Minor ; born at Chivasso in Piedmont in 1411 and died at Coni, in Piedmont in 1495.

As noted in catholic hagiography, Angelo as Blessed Angelo was "known from early age for the holiness and purity of his life". He attended the University of Bologna where he received the degree of Doctor of Civil and Canon Law. It was probably at the age of thirty that he entered the Order of Friars Minor.

Book of the Month Dec 2011

From Groot Constantia to Google : 1685 to 2010 : a colourful history of brands and branding in South Africa

A history of brands and branding in South Africa uses a narrative of South Africa's social, economic and political history and consumer culture as a backdrop to the stories of many of our most recognised brands both old and new
With over a thousand pictures and illustrations including advertisements, brand registrations, products, consumer culture and moments in history, many never published before, the book is a colourful and fascinating read. It will be picked up and explored again and again for interesting did-you-knows, but also valuable insights into branding, advertising and intellectual property protection over the years.
Many of the 400-plus brands recorded in this book are over 100 years old. One of these - Groot Constantia, which dates back to 1685, was exporting to Europe as early as the 1700's. A favourite tipple of Napoleon during his exile on St Helena it was also favoured by King Louis Philippe of France.
Google by contrast is a teenager, yet recognised as one of the top four most valuable brands in the world.
The opportunity to build brands moved to another level with the coming of media advertising. Our first newspaper was the bilingual Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser or Kaapsche Stads Courant en Afrikaansche Berigter, launched on Saturday August 16, 1800. It was owned by slave dealers and privateers Alexander Walker and John Robertson - sole printers to the corrupt Governor Sir George Yong. Space was sold for sixpence a column inch and broked for two or three pence more. Almost 100 years later the first advertising agency, SA Advertising Contractors, was launched in Cape Town in 1899 and continues, after many name and ownership changes to the present day. Brand advertising expenditure in 2010 exceeded 26 billion rand
The colourful characters, brands and events that helped shape South Africa and turn it into the democratic commercial powerhouse of Africa are all part of this remarkable story that takes us from Groot Constantia to Google and a world in which branding is recognised as the most significant gift that commerce has ever made to popular culture.

Source : From Groot Constantia to Google : 1685 to 2010 : a colourful history of brands and branding in South Africa

Book of the Month Nov 2011

Many lives : 150 years of being Indian in South Africa / Goolam Vahed, Ashwin Desai, Thembisa Waetjen.
The stories of heritage affect the senses and emotions as much as the intellect. They combine to make up a shared memory that gives meaning to identity in the present.
The importance of individual stories is also in their power to surprise and contradict, as much as to affirm, what we have been taught about the past. The images presented here invite the opportunity to look into faces, to see gestures, poses, movement and expressions of people who have been captured by the camera and held fast in time.
These faces challenge us to meet them on their own terms, to try and imagine social conditions different from our own. They challenge us to see them in three dimensions.
Where there is a tendency to imagine the past as mired in hardship and struggle against the liberated present, these visual stories insist that the past held its joys and creativity and that the challenges of poverty and inequality continue in the present.
This book, spanning the 150 years since the arrival of the first Indian indentured labourers in Natal, illustrates the power of photographs. Its lens is wide as it captures the social, the economic, the political, and the religious. It invites readers to see beyond images to the human experience in the photographs.
While the focus is broad, this collection of over 700 photographs does not ignore life's minutiae. The strength of the book lies in the interweaving of big events with the everyday as the photographs are brought to life with well researched vignettes that provide context and meaning. As it explores the many lives of Indian South Africans, this collection challenges the partitioning of identity, while acknowledging its pull and protective presence.
The story is a beguiling one that will provoke feelings of nostalgia, dissonance and intrigue, anger and hilarity, as the pages peel back history to reveal stories of passion and pain, the ordinary and the courageous

Source : Many lives : 150 years of being Indian in South Africa / Goolam Vahed, Ashwin Desai, Thembisa Waetjen.

Book of the Month October 2011

South African timber buildings : a craft revived / by Rosemary Rudd
Because this book is a pictorial 'journal' of the history of timber construction, it begins with the first wood and iron structures in the country - some ordered from European catalogues - dating back to the early 1800's. Many of these historical buildings still exist today, having been lovingly restored and well maintained. Pleasingly, a number of them have been declared National Monuments. However, a vast number have been destroyed by greedy developers or damaged by vandals. It is highly likely that few, if any, of these charming old buildings will exist beyond the next decade of two and some people regard this as our ' dying heritage'
As the objective of the book was to attempt to change people's perceptions of timber construction, it ends with pictures of some of the truly beautiful homes currently being built right throughout South Africa. The versatility and durability of timber construction needs to be brought to the attention of consumers, and this book seeks to do just that.
.Something about the author:
Rosemary Budd was born in Ndola, Zambia in 1956. Since then she has lived in Zimbabwe (where she completed her education), in England and South Africa, believing that Cape Town is one of the most spectacular places in the world. She has an abiding love of animals, especially cats, and lives in Kommetjie with her husband Keith and their cat Raffles.
She has diplomas in Small Business Management, Business Enterprise Studies, Public Relations and Journalism, and says that her 12 year tenure with the Timber Frame Builders Association was some of the most rewarding work she has ever undertaken.
Another of Rosemary's passions is The Chaeli Campaign - a non-profit organisation, of which she was a founder member. The Chaeili Campaign, powered by children, administered by adults, whose mantra is "mobilising the minds and bodies of disabled children", raises funds for wheel-chair needy children throughout South Africa.

Source : South African timber buildings : a craft revived / by Rosemary Budd.

Book of the Month September 2011

The motorist's paradise : early motoring in and around Cape Town / Bob Johnston, Derek Stuart-Findlay

The spectacular scenery of Cape town's mountains and seascapes has fascinated its citizens and visitors for centuries.

This is the story of how the city's early motorists opened up the Cape Peninsula and its hinterland.

Bob Johnston, the author of the definitive pictorial history, "Early motoring in South Africa," and Derek Stuart-Findlay now reveal the sotry of the building of the All-Round-the Cape-Peninsula Road, the first motor journeys over the mountain passes to inland towns and coastal villages and incredible journeys commencing from or ending in Africa's southernmost city.

Above this is the story of many of the personalities involved in these adventures. Over 450 historic photographs reflect the challenges, frustrations and humour involved in the first 40 years of motoring in and around the Mother City.

Source : The motorist's paradise : early motoring in and around Cape Town / Bob Johnston, Derek Stuart-Findlay

Women : South Africans of Indian origin / Devi Moodley Rajab ; portraits by Ranjith Kally ; edited by Kalim Rajab

150 Years after the first Indian indentured labourers to South Africa, our society's wider history has not escaped the risk of distortions and omissions that come from excluding critical voices and players in our struggle for democracy.
Featuring profiles by die award-winning academic and columnist Devi Moodley Rajab and portraits by the iconic South African photographer Ranjith Kally, Women : South Africans of Indian origin steps into a critical gap in our understanding of our evolution into a society united in its diversity. The changing status of Indian women over the last century and a half has been a remarkable journey of triumph over struggle.
For large periods of the country's history, such women were largely invisible within society. The taboos of culture, religion and other societal norms kept them locked in the restrictive duties of domesticity for decades. Post-apartheid freedom has, however, allowed for a renaissance among women achievers in the Indian community and this book is an attempt to tell their stories and chart some areas of the development of such women, from indenture to contemporary times.
The personal narratives in this book take the reader into the heart, home and hopes of women often ignored in public discourse. These narratives also take us ever so gently into a rich cultural milieu - not just the aromatic smells of spices of the glittering jewellery, but lives textured beyond clichés of subservience and dominance. These are narratives of the resilience of a culture that transcended the humiliation of the system of indenture to thrive in a democracy.
Above all, this is a celebration of the spirit of South African women of Indian origin and of the joy of breaking free.

Source : Women : South Africans of Indian origin. /Devi Moodley Rajab