Longing for Darkness by Peter Beard, Signed First Edition with Drawing

Longing for Darkness by Peter Beard

First Edition, First Printing, 1975

Signed with Drawing by Peter Beard

This is a very rare signed first edition, first printing of Peter Beard’s photobook  “Longing for Darkness” published by Harcourt Brave Jovanovich, New York and London, in 1975. The best description of the book comes from the Peter Beard website, “In one of the most dazzling - and unlikely - books of recent times, the lost world of Isak Dinesen (Baroness Karen Blixen) is stirringly re-created by her old major-domo, Kamante, the hero of her classic Out of Africa. Here Kamante gives his version of Out of Africa (related to Peter Beard and then translated from Swahili and hanwritten by Kamante's son), his inspired rendering of the fables Isak Dinesen taught in Karen Coffee Farm School, and his lyrical watercolors.
Here, too, are many never-before-published photographs from the collections of Isak Dinesen, her brother Thomas, and her great friend Denys Finch-Hatton, along with Peter Beard's superb photographic record of a world where - for perhaps the last time in history - true wilderness and true sophistication were one.

"I, Kamante Gatura, was a cooker in her house. During that life with Mrs. Karen I did drive to Nairobi by way of Muthaiga and compete with the best other cooks, going to the Norfolk Hotel, the Stanley, and the Tors Hotel, and the other called Queens Hotel. We travelled the Ngong road way. By then there wernt very many constructions as there are now. We could sleep in Nairobi. Mrs. Karen had lots of welcome friends."

"The first person to go to Mr. and Mrs. Barance Blixen to inquire for a shamba (a farming garden) was my father by accidents. He first went ti chief Kinyanjui and said that we were going to Ngamb-aru's Shamba. But the Shamba we were going to was of Mrs. Karen. We reached after a long journey from our old Njakai farm.

And it passed like this"

Kamante Gatura

Featuring 168 drawings and 160 photographs, the book measures approximately 12” x 8” and is bound in black paper covered boards with a photographically illustrated dust jacket. The condition of the book is FINE with a Near FINE+ dust jacket with some minor wear. The dust jacket is protected by a mylar covering.

The book has been inscribed and signed by Peter Beard who has also drawn some pictures as part of the signature treatment. Overall, this is an exceptional copy of a delightful photobook that is quite rare signed with drawings by Peter Beard.

Photographs of the front and rear of the dust jacket, the signature treatment, as well as photographs contained in the book appear below. Please note that although the photographs appear digitized as thumbnails, they are viewable in the photo viewer by running your mouse over the thumbnail. You can also click on any of the thumbnails to open a separate window where the pictures are viewable as a slideshow.