The Early Africana collection comprises books and periodicals published before 1850 and runs up to 1925. It can be described as covering some of the rare and important books which are not Africana. The collection includes the Landau collection of books related to Judaica and the Ernest Oppenheimer collection of books on Portuguese studies.
Books in this collection have been separated from the main collections for reasons of age, beauty or historical bibliographic significance and include rare and early printed books not related to Africa. Of special interest are the Incunabula (books printed before 1501 ), including an example of one of the earliest books printed in moveable type in the 15th century; the products of the Private Presses; and the Typography and Bibliography collection. This last consists of books about books, and provides a reference section for the rest of the collection.
The Early Map collection is representative of the art and science of cartography as reflected in the mapping of Africa. The collection runs up to 1925.
The Early Africana Collections are closed access collections. Tours can be made by prior arrangement. Please contact the Librarian for information
The journal collection covers the fields of arts, humanities, social sciences and African studies in a number of disciplines, as well as older titles in other disciplines.
All Africana journals (CULLEN AFPER), and bound volumes of closed subscriptions (CULLEN PER ST) , remain accessible in the First Basement of William Cullen.
Contact: Cullen and Africana journal inquiries:
Bethuel Lekganyane, Bethuel.Lekganyane@wits.ac.za
Tel: 27 (0)11 717-1936
The William Burchell collection of paintings is housed at the MuseumAfrica.
The early collection holds government publications of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek, Orange Free State Republic, the Cape Colony, Orange River Colony, the Colony of Natal and the Transvaal Colony. Early British publications include the debates of the House of Commons and the House of Lords dating from 1803 to the present, British Command Papers relating to Southern Africa in the 19th century, and the Irish University Press reprint of British Parliamentary Papers of 19th century: African Colonies.
The modern collection comprises government publications from southern African countries (excluding Angola and Mozambique) and Britain. These include government departmental reports, gazettes, legislation, parliamentary debates, commissions of inquiry, policy documents, statistics and census reports. South African provincial publications and legislation are also kept. An extensive collection of former homeland publications is available in hardcopy and on microfiche. Indexes compiled in-house by Government Publications provide access to this material and online access to many resources is available in addition to the Library's electronic resources.
Government Publication collections are available for in-library use only, and only photocopies from the collection are provided through Interlibrary Loans. A photocopier is available in the Government Publications section.