James Findlay has been a dealer in antiquarian books, original antique maps, posters, engravings, and paintings since 1997. After many happy years of operating retail stores in Saxonwold, Rand Club and The Cape Town Club, James has relocated to Nottingham Road and the business now operates completely online. Visit the website, sign up for our monthly New Stock & Events newsletters & follow our social media.
Manuscript letter from 1820 settler John Centlivres Chase to James Sharpe Esq., Gunpowder Office, Birchin Lane, London.
This is an exceptional example of an 1820 Settler “Crossed Letter,” written from the Albany District (Eastern Cape) in June 1827.
The letter is not just a historical document but a testament to the practicalities of 19th-century postal costs. To save on postage—which was charged per sheet—the author wrote the initial letter, then turned the page 90 degrees and wrote across the existing text.
200mm x 320mm
R10,000
/the-cape/letter-from-1820-settler-jc-chase-1827
This past Saturday we did one of Mark’s Marvelous Mushroom walks and it really was absolutely fantastic. Mark is so knowledgeable and he spots the tiniest mushrooms that everyone else walked straight past. Thank you @darkwoodstock 🍄
The Newsletter is out! Rare & Collectable Books & Letters May 2026 📚📨📖📕📝
See all our past newsletters on the Subscriptions Page (link in bio). Or join the WhatsApp group for links to the monthly newsletters.
10 Daks Fook Island Banknote, signed by Walter Battiss
A Fook Island Banknote, specifically the "10 Daks" Banknote, created as part of the Fook Island conceptual art project, the brainchild of the legendary South African artist Walter Battiss (known as King Ferd III of Fook Island) and his close collaborator, Norman Catherine (known as the Norman King).
This is a signed Battiss and features the "Governor’s Fingerprint,". As Battiss was the King of Fook Island, it is his original fingerprint, bottom right. In Battiss’s hand, the specific numbering "XA 183".
Original Fook Island banknotes are highly sought after by collectors of South African conceptual art.
Fook Island, founded in the early 1970s, was a "utopian, imaginary island" created as a playful but pointed rebuke to the rigid censorship and social restrictions of apartheid-era South Africa. It wasn't just a series of paintings; it was a fully realized "state of mind" with its own:
• Alphabet and Language: (visible in the "Fook script" scattered throughout this note).
• Stamps and Currency: Like the banknote.
• Passports: Battiss famously traveled the world using his Fookian passport, which was actually stamped by customs officials in the UK, US, and Germany.
140mm x 100mm
R3,000
/artwork-southafrican/fook-island-banknote-signed-by-walter-battiss-c1970s
The Antiquities of Scotland by Francis Grose, 1789 & 1791 (2 vols)
This is a significant work in the field of 18th-century topography and archaeology.
By Francis Grose (c. 1731–1791), noted English antiquary, draughtsman, lexicographer and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA).
Published S. Hooper, No. 212 High Holborn, London in 1789 (Volume 1). A second volume followed in 1791.
Volume 1
Folding map present (hand coloured copperplate engraving). 80 engraved plates.
Foxing to prelims.
Volume 2
There are multiple different collations for this set, therefore sold as is.
The work is famous for its numerous copper-plate engravings of castles, abbeys, and ruins. Grose often sketched these himself on-site, providing a visual record of many structures that have since decayed or vanished.
While touring Scotland to collect material for this book, Grose met Scottish poet Robert Burns at Friars Carse. Their friendship led to two major cultural contributions:
1. Tam o’ Shanter: Burns wrote his masterpiece poem specifically for this book. Grose agreed to include an illustration of Alloway Kirk (Burns’s father’s burial place) on the condition that Burns provide a “witch story” to accompany it.
2. “Ken ye ought o’ Captain Grose?”: Burns also wrote several humorous poems about Grose himself, who was famously portly and jovial.
The vignette on the title page is a romanticized landscape typical of the “Picturesque” movement of the late 18th century. It features a celtic or Pictish standing stone in the foreground. Two figures in contemporary 18th-century dress (one sketching), emphasizing the “gentleman traveler” aspect of antiquarianism. A distant Scottish tower house or castle on the water.
Sold as is.
Each vol: 195mm x 275mm
R6,500
/books-rest-of-the-world/antiquities-of-scotland-2-vols
Thank you to the Lions River Heritage Society for inviting me to speak, it was fascinating to hear first hand anecdotes about Walter Battiss and Killie Campbell. I really enjoyed my first KZN talk!
“Please Love the Planet” poster, signed by Sam Haskins (1990)
Samuel Joseph Haskins (11 November 1926 – 26 November 2009), was a British photographer, born and raised in South Africa. He started his career in Johannesburg and moved to London in 1968. Haskins is best known for his contribution to in-camera image montage, Haskins Posters (1973) and the 1960s figure photography trilogy Five Girls (book) (1962), Cowboy Kate & Other Stories (1964) and November Girl (book) (1967), plus an ode to sub-saharan tribal Africa “African Image” (book) (1967) .
Surface wear, minor scratches to both back and front.
423mm x 590mm
R1,250
/photography/sam-haskins-please-love-the-planet-signed-1990
There’s No Sugar Left Theatre Poster (South Africa)
A play by Natalie Knight.
Screenprint.
Artist’s proof by Norman Catherine.
Signed by Natalie Knight and Norman Catherine.
51cm x 71cm unframed
R6,500
Wembley Stadium A.F.C. Winners Photograph (1937)
Original photograph dated 1937.
Board chipped and bent at the edges.
Card: 356mm x 280mm
R1,000
/sport/wembley-stadium-afc-winners-photograph-1937
Map of Rome and Regions, Italy (1711)
Published in Regionum Italiae Mediarum Tabula Geographica Par Guill. Delisle.
Hand coloured copperplate engraving by Guillaume Delisle.
This large beautifully engraved hand coloured original antique map of Rome and the regions surrounding the ancient capital was engraved in 1711 - the date is engraved at the foot of the map - and was published by Guillaume Delisle in the Atlas Nouveau. The inset on the bottom left is a detail of the settlements on the seven hills of Rome.
(Ref: M&B; Tooley).
Repaired, tape, peripheral tears and some staining.
Approx 580mm x 815mm
R3,500
/antique-maps-of-the-rest-of-the-world/map-of-rome-and-regions-italy-1711
đź“ŚSold
Fook Island Banknote, signed by Norman Catherine (c.1970’s)
A piece of South African art history. A Fook Island Banknote, specifically the “1ak” note, created as part of the Fook Island conceptual art project, the brainchild of the legendary South African artist Walter Battiss (known as King Ferd III of Fook Island) and his close collaborator, Norman Catherine (known as the Norman King), who is the artist of this specific banknote (see signature).
126mm x 67mm
R3,000
/artwork-southafrican/fook-island-banknote-signed-by-norman-catherine-c1970s
