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Ross, Susan Imrie : This is My World: The Life of Helen Martins, Creator of the Owl House

Oxford University Press, 1997

ISBN 0195715160

The jacket is shelf rubbed and bit knocked. light marks. there's a lengthy previous owner's inscription on the half-title page. internally clean and tightly bound. [P.O.]. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Hardcover. Jacket: Very Good

1st.

Ross, Susan Imrie : This Is My World. The Life of Helen Martins, Creator of the Owl House

ISBN 0195715160

Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1997. First Edition. ISBN : 0195715160. A Very Good + copy in a Near Fine dust-jacket. Square octavo. Brown boards with gilt, embossed emblems on the front board and gilt titles on the spine. Base of the boards slightly rubbed. Front board very slightly bowed. Text-block almost imperceptibly browned. A scarce title which is now considered to be the best work on the artist. The following information is taken from Wikipedia : Helen Martins (23 December 1897 - 8 August 1976) was born in Nieu-Bethesda, South Africa. After obtaining a teaching diploma she got married. The marriage was unsuccessful and she returned to Nieu-Bethesda to take care of her ailing parents. In the years that followed, Helen grew more and more estranged from the outside world. After her parents' death she started to transform the house and the garden. Martins used cement, glass, and wire to decorate the interior of her home and later to build sculptures in her garden, drawing inspiration from Christian biblical texts, the poetry of Omar Khayyam, and various works by William Blake. In 1964, she was joined in her work by Koos Malgas, who helped her build the larger sculptures of owls, camels, and people (mostly pointing east as a tribute to Martins' fascination with the Orient) In 1976 Helen Martins's eyesight began to fail. Dreading the daunting fact that she was going blind, she took her own life by swallowing a mixture of caustic soda and crushed glass in olive oil. She was rushed to a hospital in Graaff-Reinet, where she died three days later, on 8 August 1976. As per her wishes, the Owl House has been kept intact as a museum (managed by the Owl House Foundation founded in 1996).

ROSS, Susan Imrie : This Is My World. The Life of Helen Martins Creator of the Owl House

Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1997

A fine unread copy in a fine d.w. A scarce title, the best work on this tortured creative genius.

First Edition

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