Poste Restante at the Cape and other Essays (Postal History and Philately of Southern Africa)

Selection of essays on the postal history of the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope is a land originally inhabited by Khoi and San First Nations, first visited by Portuguese mariners, invaded by successive Dutch and English colonialist, settled by German armed farmers, prospected by Cornish, Italian, Australian and Californian miners, traded with by Jewish Lithuanians, and finally inhabited by a complex mixture of European, African, Chinese, Malay and Indian immigrants. It was inevitable that out of this complicated cultural mix should emerge a number of puzzles, contradictions and enigmas, many of which continue to colour our understanding of South Africa to this day. Franco Frescura has tried to unravel some of these puzzles. The result has been a narrative which often informs, solves, confuses and amuses the student of this infuriatingly complex, and sometimes misunderstood era of South African history. Read more