Lewis (Esme)

NUNKU THE PORCUPINE

And other stories. Illustrated by Elizabeth McCormack

Published: Unie-Volkspers, Cape Town, 1939

Stock Number: 13303

Price: R960

First Edition: 47 pages, black and white illustrations, light foxing on a few pages, inscription of a previous owner on the front free endpaper, orange pictorial boards, worn on front cover and spine, 4to (280 x180mm).

The porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis, the Cape porcupine) is one of the most distinctive and characterful animals of the South African bush, nocturnal, heavily armoured, and deeply embedded in both Afrikaner and African folk traditions. Its Afrikaans name is ystervark ("iron pig"), and it appears in San rock art and Xhosa oral tradition and is a natural choice for a South African children's book.