Durnacol – The Story of the Durban Navigation Collieries (Signed) by Anthony Hocking

Durnacol – The Story of the Durban Navigation Collieries by Anthony Hocking was published in 1995 by Hollards Corporate of Bethulie, Orange Free State, and printed by Hortors Print in Johannesburg. This is the first edition hardcover in pictorial boards, with cover design by Jeff Dix, photographic input by Pieter Keay and Humphry Clinker, and maps by Pat Bridgeford.

The book tells the story of the Durban Navigation Collieries at Dannhauser in northern KwaZulu-Natal, one of the region’s best-known coal mines. Hocking traces the colliery from its early days through generations of miners, managers and artisans, covering the development of the coal seams, the work underground, mining methods and machinery, and the life of the community that grew up around the mine.

Anthony Hocking wrote a respected series of South African company and mining histories, including Oppenheimer and Son, Kaias & Cocopans and Randfontein Estates. Corporate histories of this kind were produced in small numbers, and Durnacol is now scarce, particularly in this condition.

This copy carries a fine association: it is inscribed by the author on the half-title “For Frans Jordaan with best wishes from the author”, signed and dated at Durnacol in June 1995, and signed again on the title page. It will appeal to collectors of Natal and KwaZulu-Natal Africana, students of South African coal mining and business history, and anyone with a connection to Dannhauser, Dundee and the northern Natal coalfields.

Condition – Near Fine

A near fine copy in pictorial boards with no notable defects. Double signed by the author: inscribed and signed on the half-title, “For Frans Jordaan with best wishes from the author”, dated Durnacol, June 1995, and signed again on the title page. A small bookseller’s price label reading “Signed R45-00” remains on the rear board. The binding is firm and the pages are clean throughout.