Not Only For Its Beauty. Beadwork and its Cultural Significance among the Xhosa-speaking Peoples by Costello, Dawn

(Pretoria: University of South Africa, 1990) 0869816594. Author's signed University of South Africa presentation slip mounted with clear tape to half-title verso. 4to; laminated pictorial boards; decorative endpapers; pp. xiii + (i) + 88; line drawings and map in text; full-colour captioned photographs of beadwork. Boards ever so slightly rubbed. Very good condition. Uncommon."The publication emanates from a deep interest in, and a love of, the traditional beadwork of the Xhosa-speaking people among whom I lived for many years. Its aim is to document the role of beadwork in traditional Xhosa society and by means of photographs to record its beauty before this is totally lost to posterity. The wearing of traditional dress and beadwork has all but disappeared. It is now only found in remote areas as yet to a large extent untouched by modernisation and Christianisation and occasionally seen at important celebrations such as traditional weddings when the older generation, usually women, who still possess beadwork, may wear it. It is my sincere hope that this publication will inspire the Xhosa-speaking peoples to look again at this heritage and to preserve what remains of their traditional beadwork. Many exquisite articles are being bought by overseas collectors and consequently lost forever to the Xhosa people of South Africa. Perhaps what I have written will go some way towards reviving an interest in beadwork and beading. The major part of the research for this publication has been derived from the written sources indicated in the bibliography, but some information has been obtained from informants living in Transkei and Ciskei or traders who lived in these areas for many years. I have also drawn on my own memories of the years spent at a trading store in Transkei." .