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FIONA CAPSTICK: Seven Original Waterbuck Lithographs and a Rare Book with Map

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FIONA CAPSTICK: Seven Original Waterbuck Lithographs and a Rare Book with Map
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Two of the most highly prized and scarce works in illustrated African hunting literature are represented here today through seven hand-coloured lithographs of waterbuck. The seven framed illustrations accompany a very scarce, privately published book and map recounting the African expeditions and hunting adventures of the noted American industrialist and big game hunter, William Northrop McMillan and his wife Lucie. The book was a personal gift to Peter Hathaway CAPSTICK in 1992 by the legendary Harry Tennison of Fort Worth, Texas, founder of Game Conservation International and inaugural recipient of the Peter Hathaway CAPSTICK Hunting Heritage Award in 2005. The book bears Peter's bookplate.
The six identically framed, hand-coloured chromolithographic plates of waterbuck were removed at an unknown date in the last 124 years from a set of the rare, majestic four-volume work entitled The Book of Antelopes (1894-1900), by Philip Lutely Sclater and Oldfield Thomas, published by R.H. Porter of London. The plates, depicting some of the known antelope of the world at the time, are in remarkably good condition. They feature on the leaflets, as follows: the Common Waterbuck, Mrs. Gray's Waterbuck (Peter's favourite), the Sing-Sing, Crawshay's Waterbuck, the Defassa Waterbuck and Penrice's Waterbuck. Peter acquired these lithographic treasures on auction in 1984. All these items are authenticated on the rear as having belonged to Peter.
The large, framed, hand-coloured lithograph of the Common Waterbuck was removed at some stage since the publication in 1840 of the rare, PORTRAITS OF THE GAME AND WILD ANIMALS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA by Major {later Sir} William Cornwallis Harris, published in London by W. Pickering. This is among the most highly prized illustrated works on Southern African game animals and recounts the author's hunting adventures in South Africa from 1836 to 1837. A copy of the full-colour painting of the author has been affixed to the rear of the framed lithograph as well as a copy of the author's notes on the waterbuck. Authentication of provenance is also on the rear. Peter acquired this plate on auction in the early 1970s.
The heavy book and rare map accompanying the lithographs is entitled W.N. McMillan's Expeditions and Big Game Hunting in Southern Sudan, Abyssinia and East Africa, written by the Norwegian-born B.H. Jessen who accompanied the McMillan's. The book was published strictly for private distribution in London in 1906 by M. Singer & Co. The McMillan's, members of a vastly wealthy, noted family, were from St. Louis, Missouri and undertook four extensive hunting expeditions, as shown in the map accompanying the title page of the book. McMillan's wife, Lucie, also hunted big game. The McMillan's were so taken with the African wilderness that they settled in Kenya. The late President Theodore Roosevelt was the honoured guest on several occasions of the McMillan's during his historic 1909 African hunting expedition, as recounted in Roosevelt's classic AFRICAN GAME TRAILS. DSC FOUNDATION THANKS FIONA CAPSTICK FOR THIS 100% DONATION. Fiona Capstick, ralli@mweb.co.za.