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Gordimer, Nadine : The Black Interpreters

SPRO-CAS / Ravan, 1973

ISBN 0869750267

The wraps are a bit marked and worn. Internally clean and tightly bound.. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Soft cover

1st Edition.

GORDIMER Nadine : The Black Interpreters

Ravan/ Sprocas, 1973

A fine copy in original thin card pictorial wrappers as issued. . The second iissue with censored passages on pp.54 and 60.

First Edition

GORDIMER Nadine : The Black Interpreters

Ravan/ Sprocas, 1973

Fine in pictorial wrappers as issued. the extremely rare FIRST issue with the two passages on pages quoting from the poet Langa, UNCENSORED. he was served with a banning order after the book was printed, and it was thus issued with these two poems obliterated by black rectangles.

First Edition

GORDIMER, Nadine : The Black Interpreters

Ravan Press, 1973

A fine unread copy in the original thin card pictorial wrappers as issued, The second issue, with the passages on pp.54 and 60 deleted as usual. However, a scarce variant issue in which a single addendum leaf has been tipped in, stating "Spro-cas / Ravan deeply regrets that the quotations on pages 54 and 60 were incorrectly deleted, due to a mistaken belief that Mandlenkosi Langa had been banned. It was actually M. Langa's brother, Benjamin, who was banned in October 1973", and then reprinting the suppressed passages. This copy from trhe collection of Desmond Cheadle, the printer who produced the book for Ravan, with his ownership signature on the fep.

First Edition

GORDIMER, Nadine : The Black Interpreters

Ravan Press, 1973

A fine unread copy in the original thin card pictorial wrappers as issued, The second issue, with the passages on pp.54 and 60 deleted as usual. However, a scarce variant issue in which a single addendum leaf has been tipped in, stating "Spro-cas / Ravan deeply regrets that the quotations on pages 54 and 60 were incorrectly deleted, due to a mistaken belief that Mandlenkosi Langa had been banned. It was actually M. Langa's brother, Benjamin, who was banned in October 1973", and then reprinting the suppressed passages. A fine association copy from trhe collection of the founder of Ravan Press, Peter Randall, with his ownership signature fep. From 1973 to Oct 1977 Randall was Director of Ravan Press, which was established in 1972 by Beyers Naudé, Danie van Zyl and Randall (the unusual spelling of “Ravan” is due to the word being made up of the initial letters of Randall, van Zyl, and Naudé). Randall’s role was diverse: editor, publisher, salesman, and financial manager. In a time when non-whites were severely repressed by the government, Ravan Press became an important avenue through which dissident voices could be heard. Its first literary title was Sing for our Execution (1973) by Wopko Jensma, and Randall proceeded to develop an impressive list of emerging writers. His approach was that: "Artists are able to interpret our situation and speak to people of all groups in a universal medium and in a way that academics, journalists and clergy cannot because they are so firmly labelled in their ethnic or denominational boxes." Ravan had several publishing “firsts”, most notable being the acceptance of JM Coetzee's first book, Dusklands, after it had been rejected by other South African and international publishers. Other firsts included works by Sipho Sepamla, Chabani Manganyi, Miriam Tladi, Peter Wilhelm, and Stephen Gray. Due to his involvement in anti-apartheid publishing, Randall experienced severe state repression from 1970 onwards. His passport was confiscated in 1972 for a period of ten years. It was returned for one month in 1981, after pressure from German and American publishers for Randall to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair; it was returned in full in 1982. Randall was also prosecuted in 1973 under the Commissions Act for refusing to give evidence before the Schlebusch Commission, along with Beyers Naudé and others, and was sentenced to three months imprisonment, suspended.

First Edition

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