Short description
Old Towns and Villages of the Cape is the first comprehensive study of the physical history of the older towns of the former Cape Colony. This beautiful, large format book contains over seven hundred illustrations, including hundreds of previously unpublished pioneer photographs and early watercolours. Many detailed aerial photographs, few of them ever seen in print, some dating back to the 1930s, allow the reader to step back in time and view the original towns before modern developments brought about irrevocable changes in the townscape.
Long description
Covering almost one hundred towns, villages and hamlets, Old Towns and Villages of the Cape not only examines the role of surveyors, and other factors, in their initial layout and subsequent growth, but also describes the formation of new drostdy districts, new Dutch Reformed church congregations, boeredorpe, harbour settlements and mission towns. The well known author, Hans Fransen, applies his extensive knowledge and insight to present the information, research and insights, most of it previously unpublished, in a very readable and accessible style. With its rich pictorial component, this invaluable reference book it is as attractive as it is informative and fits as well on a coffee-table as it would in a collector’s library.