SOUTH AFRICA – ANGLO AMERICAN CORPORATION OF SOUTH AFRICA LIMITED

Southern African Tour [cover title]

Johannesburg: 1955. 8 x 9.5 inches (203 x 242 mm). Preliminary text leaf: "Visit of British Educationists to Southern Africa, December 28, 1954––January 12, 1955." 48 black-and-white photographic prints mounted back-to-back; interleaved with text leaves, all mounted on guards. Light-brown cloth, gilt-lettered on front cover. Provenance: G. H. G. Harris, a member of the tour (gilt initials on front cover, pencil signature on title, typed letter from the Harry Oppenheimer, 27 June 1955, mounted on front pastedown). Foxing to prelims and postlims, light spotting to text leaves, photographs clean and well-preserved. Item #410891

The letter on the pastedown from Harry Oppenheimer, Deputy Chairman, presents the volume to Mr. Harris: "After your visit to Southern Africa... it occurred to us that you might care to have some photographs to remind you of the places and people you encountered here. We have accordingly had a selection of photographs assembled in the form of an album... It is, as you are aware, our hope that as a result of your visit more young men from the British Isles may be interested in making their careers with us..."

The opening text describes the trip made during December 1954 and January 1955, on which "twenty educationists–University Professors, Careers Masters and Headmasters from the United Kingdom–visited South Africa and the Rhodesias as guests of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, Limited."

In South Africa, they visited the gold mine of South African Land and Exploration Company, Ltd.; the uranium and sulphuric acid plants of Daggafontein Mines, Ltd.; the Orange Free State Goldfields (Welkon and Allanridge); Premier diamond mine at Cullinan, near Pretoria; the diamond mines at Kimberley; and the Cornelia Colliery near Vereeniging. They went to Victoria Falls and in the Rhodesias they visited the copper mines of Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines, Ltd, and Rhokana Corporation; the research labs of Rhoanglo Mine Services, Ltd at Kitwe; and the mining towns of Chingola and Nkana.

The names of the twenty members of the party are listed on the preliminary text leaf. The photos start at the company's headquarters in Johannesburg, and then follow the course of the trip. A number show The Ernest Oppenheimer Hospital at Welkom, and others show the De Beers facilities, including dogs trained to attack intruders. Each photo faces a printed caption detailing the subject in the image.

The Anglo American Corporation of South Africa was founded in 1917 by Ernest Oppenheimer with financial backing from the American bank J.P. Morgan & Co. The AAC became the majority stakeholder in De Beers in 1926. In the late 1940s and 50s, the AAC focused on the development of the Free State goldfields and the Vaal Reefs mine. Ernest Oppenheimer died in 1957 and the company continued under his son Harry, the author of the letter to Mr. Harris that is found on the pastedown of this album. The company has at least one connection to the literary world: they loaned a diamond to artist Richard Chopping to use as a model for the paintings he made for Ian Fleming's James Bond series’ dust jackets.

Rare: given the presentation of this volume, it is likely that twenty albums were compiled and distributed to the educationists. We trace no copies in WorldCat/OCLC, nor any at auction. A very scarce piece of corporate promotion.

Price: $3,500.00