ARB 6255

Khoi Drawings
On the establishment of the Iconongraphic Collections at the Library in 1986 all the pictorial matter which had formerly been scattered throughout the various collections was brought together and a certain amount of material which had never been catalogued came to light.  This included a plain paper wrapper containing the Khoi sketches.  There was no indication on the wrapper or on the drawings themselves of their provenance, and their sole, link with the Library was a Library stamp placed across the topmost drawing in the wrapper, a panorama of Cape Town from Table Bay.  It is estimated the picture was stamped during the period 1880-1900, but gives no indication of the date when it was acquired by the Library.
For a considerable time after the establishment of the Library in 1818, together with the SA Museum which shared its premises from 1860 to 1897, were the only institutions of its kind in southern Africa.  As a result, the Library was used as a general repository for items of real or presumed artistic or cultural value.