STANTON, Coralie; HOSKEN, Heath. The Oldest Land. London: Faber and Gwyer. 1926. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s dark green cloth lettered in black to spine and ruled in black to front board, in the dust jacket sometimes mistakenly attributed to Edward McKnight Kauffer, but most probably by Ralph Keene, who produced several designs for this publisher. A fine copy. The cloth clean, bright and sharp, the binding tight and square. The contents with mild offsetting to endpapers, else bright and fine throughout without stamps or inscriptions. The dust jacket priced 7s 6d net to spine and front flap, with all four corners neatly cut, spine tips and corners very slightly rubbed with mild toning to cream segments of the panels.
A scarce volume by the husband-and-wife writing team; Coralie Stanton a pseudonym for Mary Alice Cecil Seymour Keay, and Heath Hosken a pseudonym of Ernest Charles Heath Hosken. Their novels often invoke wild adventure and exotic lust, and here we follow debonair Paul Cameron, nicknamed the Bwana Buffalo for his big game hunting mastery—the authors’ entertaining spoof introduction shapes him a naturalist, zoophilist and somehow conservationist who shoots only for meat… right. His dashing good looks and meaty personality ensures romantic adoration follows, which serves central to plot. Black magic—‘some dense material obscurity’—adds some extra flavour while, as one might presume from the title and the visceral jacket design, Africa appears here very much as character, with constant nods to the continent’s strange beauty, its sounds and sights. Scarce.
STANTON, Coralie; HOSKEN, Heath. The Oldest Land. London: Faber and Gwyer. 1926. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s dark green cloth lettered in black to spine and ruled in black to front board, in the dust jacket sometimes mistakenly attributed to Edward McKnight Kauffer, but most probably by Ralph Keene, who produced several designs for this publisher. A fine copy. The cloth clean, bright and sharp, the binding tight and square. The contents with mild offsetting to endpapers, else bright and fine throughout without stamps or inscriptions. The dust jacket priced 7s 6d net to spine and front flap, with all four corners neatly cut, spine tips and corners very slightly rubbed with mild toning to cream segments of the panels.
A scarce volume by the husband-and-wife writing team; Coralie Stanton a pseudonym for Mary Alice Cecil Seymour Keay, and Heath Hosken a pseudonym of Ernest Charles Heath Hosken. Their novels often invoke wild adventure and exotic lust, and here we follow debonair Paul Cameron, nicknamed the Bwana Buffalo for his big game hunting mastery—the authors’ entertaining spoof introduction shapes him a naturalist, zoophilist and somehow conservationist who shoots only for meat… right. His dashing good looks and meaty personality ensures romantic adoration follows, which serves central to plot. Black magic—‘some dense material obscurity’—adds some extra flavour while, as one might presume from the title and the visceral jacket design, Africa appears here very much as character, with constant nods to the continent’s strange beauty, its sounds and sights. Scarce.
