Abstract:
Print culture came to South Africa with the Dutch East India Company, followed
by the British colonisers. This influence persisted after colonisation officially
ended, with the Union of South Africa in 1910. Many early publishers and booksellers
were immigrants, especially Dutch immigrants. While the settlers were Dutch,
many lent their support to Afrikaner nationalist causes. This article considers the
implications of the colonial influence for the development of South African print
culture, using a case study of Van Schaik Publishers, which was founded by a
Dutch Immigrant, JL van Schaik, in 1914. Attention is paid to the question of how
this early publisher saw its role in developing an ‘imagined community’ that
engaged both with the culture of the coloniser and that of the developing settler
colony. It is argued that Van Schaik played a significant role in the development
of Afrikaans publishing, but little scholarly attention has been paid to his publishing
philosophy and strategy.
