Notes

Ethelreda Lewis, English-born but married to a South African, was a minor novelist with scant success until one day in 1925 an old tramp arrived on her doorstep at 26 Loch Avenue,  Parktown, Johannesburg. She was so intrigued by his way of speaking and lively turn of phrase that she took down his memories in three volumes. The first volume was a world bestseller and was made into a famous Hollywood movie, called ‘Trader Horn’,  in 1931. She wrote a couple of novels after the Trader Horn books under a pseudonym, because she wanted them approached for their quality, not her fame. She died in 1946.

Provenance

Commissioned by Tim Couzens