Lawrence (Jeremy)

BUCCANEER, A biography of Sir Joseph Benjamin Robinson, first Baronet

Signed by the author

Published: The Gryphon Press, Cape Town, 2008

Stock Number: 13314

Price: R960

Second Edition: 512 pages, numerous illustration, paperback, a very good copy signed by the author on the title page, 8vo (225 x 150 mm).

Author's note: 'The formidable South African mining magnate Joseph Benjamin Robinson — contemporary of Rhodes, Beit, Wernher and the other great "Randlords" — was a man of controversy, yet his pioneering status in his country's diamond- and gold-mining industries is unassailable. In 1889 Robinson took his family to England. There he acquired the lease of a magnificent London mansion in Park Lane, the scene of lavish entertainment — and the home of a noteworthy collection of art. In 1908 he was awarded a baronetcy. When, in 1916, Robinson sold all his gold interests to a Johannesburg mining house, that house promptly sued him for the return of "secret profits" amounting to nearly £500,000. After interminable litigation Robinson lost the case. In 1922 he was elevated to the peerage, but such was the outcry that he was obliged to decline this honour. A final blow to Robinson's reputation fell after his death when the publication of his will inspired the Cape Times editor to a vitriolic attack… Buccaneer is the first biography of Sir J B Robinson to be published since his death in Wynberg, Cape Town, in 1929. In writing it, the author has had access to the Robinson Papers, privately housed in Cape Town.'