We’ve made some of our much loved books, interesting photographs and various other digitized resources into jigsaw puzzles so you can have some fun while exploring our collections virtually!
The Freedom Charter, poster designed by Miriam Stern.
The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, made up of the African National Congress, the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress. In 1955, 50 000 ANC volunteers collected "freedom demands" from the people of the townships and rural areas of South Africa. These demands were compiled into The Freedom Charter, which was officially adopted on Sunday 26 June 1955 at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, Soweto. The document is notable for its demand for and commitment to a non-racial South Africa, The charter also calls for democracy and human rights, land reform, labour rights, and nationalisation. When the ANC finally came to power after democratic elections in 1994, the new Constitution of South Africa included many of the demands of the Freedom Charter.
This poster is a permanent feature in the UP Special Collections Reading Room.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
20-03-2022
A Christmas Carol in Prose, being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens.
The classic tale of miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his ghostly visitors. Illustrated by John Leech, this book was first published in 1843. Part of the Roos Collection, our copy was published in 1845, and has clearly been well-loved and read often.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
03-12-2021
Arctotis foliis lanceolatis subtus tomentosis integris laciniatisque.
From: Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum by Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum, was written by Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, a German physician and botanist. First published in 1733, Kniphof used a printing technique known as "nature printing", which he had mastered in order to imprint details of various botanical specimens. Our 1759 edition of Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum is part of our Reserved Collection and is also available online.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
26-11-2021
Olympia Costume Design for the Opera “The Tales of Hoffman.”
This costume was designed for the role of Olympia in the opéra fantastique, “The Tales of Hoffmann,” Jacques Offenbach's final work. This design by Peter Cazalet, comes from our Mimi Coertse Collection, which includes sheet music, CDs, and books, as well as personal items such as costumes, correspondence, albums, paintings and ephemera.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
19-11-2021
Struthio Camelus - The Ostrich.
Another plate from this significant book from our Du Plessis Collection, published in 1840. Sir William Cornwallis Harris’s illustrations of African animals were the first to be able to claim any real accuracy.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
12-11-2021
Church Square, Pretoria.
From: The gold & diamond fields, Transvaal.
‘The gold & diamond fields, Transvaal’ was published in 1905, and contains tinted photographs of street view and panoramas of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
05-11-2021
UP Special Collections Halloween Display, 29 October 2019.
Halloween is an excellent reason to explore the folklore and mythology of other cultures. This display included ghost stories, fairy tales, legends, as well as stories and lore about witchcraft from all over the world in an effort to show how other cultures view the various themes associated with Halloween.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
29-10-2021
Jacaranda Season on Campus.
A reminder of how beautiful our campus looks at this time of year. This photo was taken in front of the Old Merensky, in 2018.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
22-10-2021
Library of the Transvaal University College.
An old photo of the University’s first library, housed in the Old Arts Building. This photo is of the room currently known as the Eastern Ceramics Gallery. This image comes from Lochhead's Guide, Handbook & Directory of Pretoria, 1913, which is part of our growing Pretoriana Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
15-10-2021
Inside Cover Image from ‘African Elegance.’
‘African Elegance,’ by Alice Mertens and Joan A Broster, is a fascinating record of the art and artistry displayed through the dances, beadwork, facial markings and crafts of the peoples of the Gcaleka, Tembu, Pondo, Bomvana, Mpondomise, Bhaca, Xesibe and Fingo tribes. This book is a testament to an unwritten culture passed down through the centuries—a culture which still stands as the foundation of the life of the Xhosa.
This stylised inside cover image is of a Tembu woman carrying a beer barrel.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
01-10-2021
Masked Dancers of Raʋothata.
This photograph of masked dancers from the Rabothata clan, comes from ‘The Realm of a Rain-queen: A Study of the Pattern of Lovedu Society’ by E. Krige and J.D. Krige. Published in 1943, this book discusses the life and culture of the Lobedu or Balobedu, a group within the Sotho-Tswana people. As well as discussing the Rain-Queen, much of the book is devoted to the royal institutions; the network of links woven by kinship, marriage and marriage cattle, the legal procedure of compromise and appeasement and various aspects of magic, witchcraft and religion. Considered as a whole, the culture emerges as a structure supporting and in turns supported by the Rain-Queen.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
24-09-2021
Frontispiece showing a San painting of a cattle raid.
From: Sonqua: Southern San history and art after contact: an illustrated synthesis by Pieter Jolly.
This well-illustrated work traces the impact of immigrant Khoekhoe, Nguni, Sotho and European groups on indigenous San communities in South Africa and Lesotho—from first contact, at least 1500 years ago, until the demise of the last hunter-gatherer-raider San groups and their rock art traditions, in the second half of the 19th century.
The frontispiece, featured here, is a copy, by George Stow, of a San painting of a cattle raid from the 1930 publication, “Rock Paintings in South Africa” by G.W. Stow and D.F. Bleek.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
17-09-2021
Girl influenced by Tsonga and Swazi traditions.
From: African Heritage by Barbara Tyrrell and Peter Jurgens.
African Heritage uses a combination of text and pictures to reveal the traditional beliefs, customs and ritual that shaped the everyday lives of many of the black people in Southern Africa. This illustration shows a girl influenced by both the Tsonga and Swazi traditions. She is wearing the beads, cloths and bangles of traditional courtship. The line drawing depicts a Tsonga boy on a courting mission, as shown by the small courting shield, the courting feathers in his hair and the beadwork.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
10-09-2021
Hedysarum foliis pinnatis.
From: Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum by Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
Johann Hieronymus Kniphof was a German physician and botanist. Kniphof used a printing technique known as "nature printing", which he had mastered in order to imprint details of various botanical specimens. Our 1759 edition of Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum is part of our Reserved Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
03-09-2021
“General View of the Missionaries’ Premises, and Part of the Village of Gnadenthal.”
English missionary, Christian Ignatius Latrobe (1758 – 1836), visited the Moravian mission stations in the Cape Colony in the early 1800s. This journal of the trip was published in 1818 with coloured plates of sketches by both Latrobe and John Melville, Government Surveyor of the Cape. This illustration was from a sketch by Latrobe.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
27-08-2021
Merensky Librarians in 1950.
Librarians at work behind the scenes at the Merensky Library in 1950.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
20-08-2021
The Perfect Woman by Mary Ries Melendy.
The full information provided on the title page of this book is: Perfect womanhood for maidens, wives, mothers. A book giving full information on all the mysterious and complex matters pertaining to women: Creative Science; Bearing, Nursing and Rearing Children; Hints on Courtship and Marriage; Limitation of Offspring; Health, Mental and Physical Beauty, Etc., Etc. Including diseases peculiar to women, their treatment and cure. A complete medical guide for women.
Published in 1903, this book provides surprisingly modern viewpoints and information for women.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
06-08-2021
Aerial Photograph of Mapungubwe Hill.
A collection of specialist reports on the first archaeological work carried out at the Mapungubwe archaeological site, this book is the seminal monograph on Mapungubwe, now a protected site within Mapungubwe National Park. Prof Leo Fouché, the editor of the book, was the first Professor of History at the University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
30-07-2021
Entrance to Special Collections.
The entrance to the Special Collections Unit, with posters featuring our larger collections; The Africana Collection, The De Villiers Roos Collection, The Reserved Collection, The UP Publications Collection, The Du Plessis Africana Collection, The Jurriaanse Collection, The Theology Collection and the SA Music Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
23-07-2021
Nelson Mandela visits the Merensky Library, September 1999.
On 7 September 1999, Nelson Mandela visited the Merensky Library to receive a bound transcript of the original judgement in his 1961 Treason Trial, from Irene Harms, the daughter of Justice Frans Rumpff, president of the court that tried him. Mrs Harms, who was a clerk at the trial, also presented Mr Mandela with a scrapbook of newspaper clippings she had compiled at the time.
Mr Mandela described Judge Rumpff as an honest broker who always stood for the law regardless of his political opinions. He said that Judge Rumpff’s finding was significant because it meant that the ANC became accepted both nationally and internationally as a true liberation organisation.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
16-07-2021
Reede van de Kaap de Goede Hoop.
From: Nieuwe algemene beschryving van de Kaap de Goede Hoop. Eerste deel by Peter Kolbe.
Peter Kolbe (1675 - 1726) was a German teacher, ethnologist, traveller and explorer of South Africa, who was sent to the Cape of Good Hope with a mandate to compile a comprehensive description of South Africa, as well as for astronomical and surveying research. This book focuses particularly on the customs of the Khoekhoe in the area and a short account is given of the Dutch settlement at the Cape. This first edition of volume 1 is part of our Du Plessis (ZPA) Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
09-07-2021
The Special Collections Used Books Trolley of 27 September 2018.
Often, the used books trolley reflects the particular focus of one or two researchers who visited the section on a particular day. This photo was originally posted on the UP Library’s Instagram account.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
02-07-2021
Card Catalogue at the Merensky Library in 1957.
Users at the card catalogue in the basement level of what is now the Old Merensky Building.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
25-06-2021
Duck decorative page element.
From: A Winter Tour in South Africa by Frederick Young.
British traveller, Sir Frederick Young (1817-1913) travelled widely, visiting Canada, Greece, South Africa and Turkey. “A Winter Tour in South Africa” describes his travels from May to September 1889, illustrated throughout with black and white photographs. Intricate decorative page elements are found throughout the book.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
18-06-2021
“A View in the Town of Litākun.”
From: Travels in the interior of Southern Africa, Volume 2 by William J. Burchell.
William John Burchell (1781 – 1863), was an English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist, and author. He travelled in South Africa through 1815 covering more than 7000 km, much over unexplored terrain. Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa is a two-volume work describing his travels, this second volume appearing in 1824. Burchell made numerous drawings and paintings of landscapes, portraits, costumes, people, animals and plants and the illustrations in Travels in the interior of Southern Africa were “engraved and coloured after the original drawing[s] made by W.J. Burchell.”
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
11-06-2021
Decorated brown cloth cover of Home life on an Ostrich Farm by Annie Martin.
Annie Martin's account of her and her husband's career as ostrich farmers in South Africa includes material on ostrich farming itself, many anecdotes of the family's life, as well as extensive observations of plants and wildlife, and local society. This first edition was published in 1890, and is part of our Du Plessis Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
04-06-2021
The Mimi Coertse Collection and Exhibition Room.
World-renowned South African soprano, Mimi Coertse, made her debut on 17th March 1956, at the Vienna State Opera as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Mimi Coertse went on to extend her repertoire to include the principal roles in all the major operas and operettas staged in, broadcast and televised from opera houses ranking among the world's best.
The Mimi Coertse Collection includes sheet music, CDs, and books, as well as personal items such as opera dresses, correspondence albums, paintings and ephemera.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
28-05-2021
Lower Level of Old Merensky in the 1950s.
An old photograph of the lower level of the Library, when it was still housed in the Old Merensky in the 1950s.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
21-05-2021
The Steerage of a Transport about 11 o’clock A.M. on a rainy day.
This sketch, with its charming caption, is from the 1815-1816 handwritten journal of Ensign Robert Henry Dingley. The journal, part of our Du Plessis (ZPA) Collection, is available on UPSpace.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
14-05-2021
The Medical Library in the 1990s.
This photo was originally posted on the UP Library’s social media channels as part of our popular #ThrowbackThursday feature. You can see more old photographs of the UP Library on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages.
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
30-04-2021
The Collected Works of Sir Winston Churchill.
This Centenary limited edition of Churchill’s Complete Works, published in 1973, belongs to our Old Africana Collection. This set of 38 volumes is one of only 3000 sets produced. Each volume is bound in natural calfskin vellum with the titling in 22 ct. gold, the page edges gilt, marbled endpapers, and are printed on special 500-year archival paper. Each volume is contained in a dark green slipcase stamped with the Churchill Arms.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
07-05-2021
Huguenots Building their Homesteads.
From: Romance of Empire: South Africa by Ian Duncan Colvin.
Described as “a marvellously politically incorrect book,” ‘Romance of Empire: South Africa’ used original colonial records and accounts to provide insights into the storyline of the longest lasting and most influential of European settlements in Africa.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
16-04-2021
Cullinan’s “Premier” Diamond Mine, Transvaal.
From: The gold & diamond fields, Transvaal.
Established in 1902, the Premier Diamond Mine rose to prominence in 1905, with the discovery of the Cullinan Diamond. This was largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, weighing 3,106.75 carats (621.35 g). The Premier Mine was renamed the Cullinan Diamond Mine in 2003 in celebration of its centenary.
‘The gold & diamond fields, Transvaal’ was published in 1905, and contains tinted photographs of street views and panoramas of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
09-04-2021
Mountain Hare.
From: The Royal Natural History, Vol. 3: Mammals, Birds. Edited by Richard Lydekker.
The Royal Natural History comprises six volumes, published between 1894 and 1895. These books are illustrated with coloured plates and engravings and cover mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and invertebrates.
The set in Special Collections belongs to our Old Africana (ZAOUV) Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
02-04-2021
Merensky 2 Library in 1975.
Construction for the Merensky 2 Library building was begun on the 17th of November 1971. This photo shows the new building in 1975, before the Library’s official opening in 1976.
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
26-06-2021
L'ingénieux hidalgo Don Quichotte de La Manche par Miguel de Cervantès Saavedra.
This beautiful, two-volume edition of Don Quixote comes from our Jurriaanse Collection. It was published in 1863 and is a French translation of Cervantes’ well-known epic of heroic idealism. Considered a founding work of Western literature, Don Quixote is often regarded as the first modern European novel and also holds the distinction of being the second most-translated book in the world, after the Bible.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
19-03-2021
The Premises of J.C. Juta and Co. – Booksellers and Stationers, Adderly Street.
A delightful old guidebook, filled with old photographs of Cape Town. From the preface of our 1897 edition: “The very favourable reception accorded to the first edition of the Cape Town Guide has induced the publishers to re-issue it with such additional information as might prove useful to Visitors, and others, who wish to become thoroughly acquainted with Cape Town and its suburbs. Several illustrations of scenery and buildings have been added, and the book has been brought "up-to-date" as much as possible.”
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
12-03-2021
“View of a Bushman Kraal.”
From: Travels in the interior of Southern Africa, Volume 2 by William J. Burchell.
William John Burchell (1781 – 1863), of Burchell’s Zebra fame, was an English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist, and author. He travelled in South Africa through 1815, collecting over 50,000 specimens, and covering more than 7000 km, much over unexplored terrain. Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa is a two-volume work describing his travels, this second volume appearing in 1824.
Burchell is known for making numerous, detailed notes for every specimen he collected, as well as the numerous drawings and paintings of landscapes, portraits, costumes, people, animals and plants. His thousands of plant specimens, as well as the field journals from his South African expedition, are held by Kew Gardens, and his insect collection by the Oxford University Museum.
The illustrations in Travels in the interior of Southern Africa were “engraved and coloured after the original drawing[s] made by W.J. Burchell.”
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
05-03-2021
Lover’s Walk.
This lovely little handbook from 1913 is filled with information and photographs of Old Pretoria, and makes a wonderful addition to our growing Pretoriana Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
26-02-2021
Library Lover’s Month, 2018.
A flashback to Library Lover’s Month at UP Library in February 2018. This was a display of love letters, from patrons to our library and librarians, on Level 3 of the Merensky 2 Library.
This photo was originally posted to the UP Library’s Facebook account.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
19-02-2021
The Language of Flowers by Sheila Pickles.
This exquisite volume focuses on the romance of flowers, interweaving classic poems with descriptions of each flower's meaning along with captivating illustrations.
This book was published in 1990 and is part of our Reserved Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
12-02-2021
Summa angelica de casibus conscientiae by Angelo Carletti di Chivasso.
Angelo Carletti di Chivasso (1411-1495) was a noted moral theologian of the Order of Friars Minor. His name in Latin is usually given as Angelus de Clavasio (Clavasium being the Latin name of his birthplace). The most noted of his works is the "Summa de Casibus Conscientiae", called after him the "Summa Angelica". The first edition of "Summa Angelica" appeared in 1486, and from that year to the year 1520 it went through 31 editions. The "Summa" is divided into 659 articles arranged in alphabetical order and forming what would now be called a dictionary of moral theology.
Our 1491 edition of Summa Angelica is the oldest item in our Special Collections and is part of our Reserved Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
05-02-2021
Guilietta Costume Design for the Opera “The Tales of Hoffmann.”
From The Mimi Coertse Collection, this costume was designed by Peter Cazalet for the character of Guilietta in the opéra fantastique, “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
29-01-2021
Camelopardalis Giraffa – The Giraffe.
A British military engineer, artist and hunter, Sir William Cornwallis Harris arrived at Cape Town in June 1836, and journeyed through the country for more than a year. His illustrations of African animals were the first to be able to claim any real accuracy. This valuable book belongs to our Du Plessis Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
22-01-2021
Approach to Gnadenthal – crossing the River Sonderend.
Christian Ignatius Latrobe (1758 – 1836), a missionary from England, arrived in the Cape Colony in 1815 to visit the Moravian mission stations in the area. He was accompanied by John Melville, Government Surveyor of the Cape, and this journal of the trip was published in 1818 with coloured plates of sketches by both Latrobe and Melville. This illustration was from a sketch by Latrobe.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
15-01-2021
Merensky 2 Library in 1976
On 17 November, 1971, construction for a new library building began. The building extended over a total area of 122, 441 square feet and made provision for 1083 seats and 129 members of staff. The new Merensky 2 Library was officially inaugurated on 26 March 1976.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
08-01-2021
TUKS’s first Library in the Old Arts Building, 1911.
In 1911, the Old Arts Building became the first permanent home for the Library. This photograph shows the counter and librarian’s desk in the upper storey of the South Wing of the Old Arts Building. The Library itself was housed in what is today the Eastern Ceramics Gallery (visible through the door on the right of the photo).
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
01-01-2021
Scrooge’s third Visitor.
An illustration of the Ghost of Christmas Present by John Leech, from the 1845 edition of “A Christmas Carol in Prose, being a Ghost Story of Christmas” by Charles Dickens. This was Scrooge’s third ghostly visitor, after Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Past. The Special Collections’ edition is part of our Roos Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
25-12-2020
Exceptional Books, Covers and Bindings.
The Special Collections annual exhibition of books with unique covers and bindings, includes books bound in wood, snakeskin, and cattle hair!
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
18-12-2020
Panorama of Pretoria, 1905.
From: The gold & diamond fields, Transvaal.
This little booklet published in 1905, contains tinted photographs of buildings in Johannesburg and Pretoria, including street vistas and full view photographs of Crown Deep, Robinson Deep and Simmer & Jack gold mines, as well as the Premier diamond mine at Cullinan. Accompanying information on each photograph is included.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
11-12-2020
Frontispiece and title page from the 1845 edition of “A Christmas Carol in Prose, being a Ghost Story of Christmas” by Charles Dickens.
Everyone is familiar with the story of Ebenezer Scrooge and how visits from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future, make him see the error of his ways and transform him into a kinder man.
Illustrated by John Leech, this book was first published in 1843. The Special Collections’ 1845 edition is part of our Roos Collection.
This photo was originally posted on the UP Library’s Instagram account.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
04-12-2020
The new Merensky 2 Library interior in 1974.
A view of Level 3 from Level 4. Construction for the new library building started in 1971, and the new Merensky 2 Library was inaugurated in 1976.
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
26-11-2020
Distant view of Longwood, St Helena, across the Devil’s Punch-bowl.
Christian Ignatius Latrobe (1758 – 1836) was a Moravian missionary from England, who arrived in the Cape Colony in 1815 to visit the Moravian mission stations in the area. His journal of the trip was published in 1818 with coloured plates of sketches by Latrobe himself and by John Melville, Government Surveyor of the Cape, who accompanied him on his journey.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
20-11-2020
These books are part of a three-volume facsimile of the 1623 first folio edition of Shakespeare's complete plays, with illustrations by Sir J. Noel Paton, published between 1888 and 1889. The volumes are bound in green cloth with gilt titles and inset decorative elements. This set is part of our Roos Collection, which was donated to the Library in 1940.
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
13-11-2020
Jacarandas and the Old Merensky
From October 2006, more Jacaranda trees on campus, this time surrounding the Old Merensky Library building.
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
06-11-2020
How Table Mountain Got It’s Cloud
From: Romance of empire: South Africa by Ian Duncan Colvin.
Some fun for Halloween! A tale including a creepy hermit, pirates and the Devil. This legend is found in ‘Romance of empire: South Africa,’ published in 1909 and part of our Du Plessis (ZPA) collection. The book recounts the story of the tip of Africa from the first European sighting in the 1400s right through to the end of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1902 and was considered “an enthralling story, told in a forthright, frank but utterly engrossing style.”
Read ‘How Table Mountain Got It’s Cloud’ at the link below and peruse ‘Romance of empire: South Africa' at the link above.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
30-10-2020
The Cape of Good Hope
This sketch of Table Mountain, with the Cape Colony in the foreground, is from the 1815-1816 handwritten journal of Ensign Robert Henry Dingley. The journal, part of our Du Plessis (ZPA) Collection and also available on UPSpace, includes illustrations by Dingley, a lively and often humorous account of his observations during his travels.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
16-10-2020
The Victoria Falls of the Leeambye or Zambesi River, called Mosyoatunya (smoke-sounding)
From: A Popular Account of Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa by David Livingstone.
David Livingstone was a world-renowned explorer, as well as a physician and missionary. He was particularly interested in finding the source of the Nile, and as a result, he travelled extensively throughout southern and central Africa. This book, aimed non-specialist readers, is an abridged version of Livingstone’s Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (1857).
UP Special Collections has copies of the original Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa published in 1857, and our copy of the popular version, published in 1861, is part of our Africana Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
23-10-2020
Jacarandas on Main Campus
A reminder of what the Hatfield campus looks like in Jacaranda season. This photo was taken on the 6th of October 2006!
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
09-10-2020
The Old Merensky Library in 1957
The Old Merensky was the University of Pretoria’s first purpose-built library building, and was designed by the well-known architect, Gerard Moerdyk. On the 11th of October, 1937, General Jan Smuts laid the cornerstone for the building, and the new library was officially opened on the 15th of April, 1938.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
02-10-2020
Hibiscus foliis ouato-lanceolatis
From: Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum by Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
Our fourth puzzle celebrating Spring from Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum by German physician and botanist, Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
24-09-2020
Campanula foliis ouatis glabris subferratis
From: Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum by Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
Our third puzzle from Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium is a variety of bellflower. Kniphof used a printing technique known as "nature printing", which he had mastered in order to imprint details of various botanical specimens. It is one of the reasons these illustrations are so lifelike.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
18-09-2020
Helianthus foliis omnibus cordatis trineruatis
From: Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum by Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
Our second puzzle from Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum by German physician and botanist, Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces)| Hard (200 pieces)
11-09-2020
Geranium pedunculis unifloris
From: Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum by Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
To celebrate the arrival of Spring, this month all our puzzles will be botanical prints from Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum, written by Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, who was a German physician and botanist. First published in 1733, Kniphof used a printing technique known as "nature printing", which he had mastered in order to imprint details of various botanical specimens. Our 1759 edition of Botanica in originali, seu Herbarium vivum is part of our Reserved Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
04-09-2020
Evening at the Merensky 2 Library
This photo, of the Merensky 2 Library brightly lighting up the evening, was taken in 2016 and posted on the UP Library’s Facebook account. A reminder to our valued and much missed clients of what the UP Library on Hatfield Campus looks like!
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
28-08-2020
A New Map of the Cape of Good Hope (1731)
Peter Kolbe (1675–1726) was sent to the Cape of Good Hope to compile a comprehensive description of South Africa, as well as to carry out astronomical and surveying research. Kolbe was also appointed in 1705 as the first official astronomer in South. In this work, Kolbe provided a detailed account of day-to-day life at the Cape in the 18th century, including descriptions of the geography, climate, flora and fauna. This map comes from volume 2 of his account, which belongs to our Nolte Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
21-08-2020
Antonia Costume Design for the Opera “The Tales of Hoffman.”
This design comes from The Mimi Coertse Collection. Mimi Coertse is an internationally renowned South African opera singer, who has sung in theatres all around the world. The Mimi Coertse Collection, originally donated to the University in 1998, includes sheet music, CDs, and books, as well as personal items such as costumes, correspondence, albums, paintings and ephemera. This particular costume was designed by Peter Cazalet for the character of Antonia in the opera “The Tales of Hoffman” by Jacques Offenbach.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
14-08-2020
Harbour Works, Durban
From: A Winter Tour in South Africa by Frederick Young.
Sir Frederick Young (1817-1913) was a British traveller and writer on imperial affairs. He travelled widely, visiting Canada, Greece, South Africa and Turkey. This book, available on UPSpace, describes his travels through South Africa from May to September 1889, illustrated throughout with black and white photographs.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
31-07-2020
Women’s Day Exhibition, August 2017
This photo was taken during the Women’s Day Exhibition we held in our Special Collections' Reading Room in August, 2017, to highlight the important role of women in South African history. Some of the books included in the exhibition were, Musical echoes: South African Women Thinking in Jazz by Carol Ann Muller and Sathima Bea Benjamin; Makeba: My Story by Miriam Makeba and James Hall; The Black Sash: the story of the South African Women's Defence of the Constitution League by Mirabel Rogers; and Lives of Courage: women for a new South Africa by Diana E H Russell and Women in South African History by Nomboniso Gasa (pictured here). This photo is from the UP Library’s Facebook account.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
07-08-2020
Ex-libris Bookplate of Jacob de V.Roos
Advocate Jacob de Villiers Roos (1869-1940) was a journalist, secretary of the Judicial Department of Transvaal, Secretary of Justice, director of Prisons and Auditor-general of the Union of South Africa from 1918-1929. In August 1940, Mr J. de Villiers Roos bequeathed his precious book collection in its entirety to the University of Pretoria. This book collection is preserved as the Roos (ZR) Collection in the Africana section of Special Collections. The books in this collection are all marked by Adv. de Villiers Roos’s personalised ex-libris bookplates. Bookplates are printed or decorative labels pasted into books, most often on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership. As with Adv. De Villiers Roos’s example, bookplates often show a motif relating to the book's owner, such as a coat-of-arms, crest, badge, motto, or a commissioned design.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
22-07-2020
The Used Books Trolley, 12 December 2018
Every now and then, the books waiting to be reshelved at the end of the day really reflect the diversity of the books in our collections. 12 December 2018 was one of those days. This photo is from the UP Library’s Instagram account.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
17-07-2020
The Home of the Pelican and the Flamingo.
From: A popular account of missionary travels and researches in South Africa by David Livingstone.
“David Livingstone’s Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa was a Victorian publishing phenomenon. First published by London-based John Murray in 1857, the text had been consciously constructed to appeal to a wide range of audiences, within and beyond the scientific and geographical community. This widespread appeal helped to ensure the work enjoyed commercial and critical success in Britain on a scale which was unprecedented for a travel narrative. Pre-publication sales numbered 12,000 ensuring the initial print run sold out immediately while sales of the guinea edition quickly reached 30,000. A subsequent abridged ‘popular account’ aimed at non-specialist readers sold a further 10,000 copies.” (Taken from Finnegan, Diarmid A. and Wright, Jonathan Jeffrey. 2016. Spaces of Global Knowledge: Exhibition, Encounter and Exchange in an Age of Empire. Routledge.)
UP Special Collections has copies of the original Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa published in 1857 in our Africana, Du Plessis and Nolte Collections. The image above comes from our copy of the subsequent popular version, which is part of our Africana collection and is available on UPSpace (just click on the title of the book above).
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
10-07-2020
University of Pretoria Main Campus in 1976
University Road and the railway line is at the front in this photo, with the Old Arts Building and the Old Merensky towards the back. One can see the newly constructed Merensky 2 Building just behind the Old Merensky, and the Human Sciences Building still under construction at the very back.
You can see more photos like this in our regular Throwback Thursday feature on social media, so be sure to follow UP Library on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
03-07-2020
This gorgeous version of Aeschylus’s Oresteia was translated into Dutch by A. Pierson and was published in 1882. It is part of our Jurriaanse Collection.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
26-06-2020
Mossel Bay on the Indian Ocean
Christian Ignatius Latrobe (1758 – 1836) was a Moravian missionary from England, who arrived in the Cape Colony in 1815 to visit the Moravian mission stations in the area. His journal of the trip was published in 1818 with coloured plates of sketches by Latrobe himself and by John Melville, Government Surveyor of the Cape, who accompanied him on his journey.
Easy (10 pieces) | Medium (60 pieces) | Hard (200 pieces)
19-06-2020
Gazella Euchore Springbok
Sir William Cornwallis Harris (1807 – 1848) was a British military engineer, artist and hunter. He arrived at Cape Town in June 1836, and journeyed through the country for more than a year. His illustrations of African animals were the first to be able to claim any real accuracy. This rare book from our Du Plessis Collection is also available on UPSpace.
A selection of books from The Juriaanse Collection
Dr Aardt Jurriaanse was a Dutch medical doctor who came to South Africa during the Anglo Boer War with a medical corps in aid of the Boers. He stayed on in South Africa after the war and worked as a general practitioner in the Ermelo district of the old Transvaal where he also farmed until the end of his life. His collection of books covers the classics in literature and medicine.
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
The Master of Mary of Burgundy: A Book of Hours for Engelbert of Nassau.
Near the end of the 1400s, a Flemish artist known only as The Master of Mary of Burgundy painted one of the last illuminated manuscripts—a book of hours—for Engelbert of Nassau, a member of the nobility of the Netherlands during the 15th century. This edition, published in 1970, is a reproduction of the original, which is housed at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. This book forms a part of our Reserved Collection. This photo is from the UP Library’s Instagram account.
Eight Bells Crew’s dinner
This sketch is from the handwritten journal of Ensign Robert Henry Dingley, which is part of our Du Plessis (ZPA) Collection and is available on UPSpace. The journal includes illustrations by Dingley, a lively and often humorous account of his observations during his travels.
The Merensky 2 Library in 1976
Construction for the new library building started on the 17th of November 1971, and on the 26th of March 1976 the new Merensky 2 Library was inaugurated.
Photo credit: The Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria.
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