“WE HAVE WAITED TOO LONG FOR OUR FREEDOM” (NELSON MANDELA): SCARCE 1990 SIGNED LIMITED EDITION OF HIGHER THAN HOPE, HIS FIRST AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY, ONE OF ONLY 100 COPIES SIGNED BY MANDELA AND AUTHOR MEER, ISSUED TO COMMEMORATE HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON
MANDELA, Nelson. Higher Than Hope. Mandela. Durban, (South Africa): Institute for Black Research, Madiba, (1990). Quarto, original three-quarter black morocco gilt, raised bands, original slipcase.
Signed limited edition of the first authorized biography of Nelson Mandela, number 41 of only 100 copies signed by him and by author Fatima Meer, issued in 1990 to commemorate Mandela’s release from prison that February, featuring a foreword by Winnie Mandela, with 36 pages of photographic illustrations.
"With the words, 'We have waited too long for our freedom,' on 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela addressed half a million people in Capetown, and via satellite the world, as he was released from prison after 27 years" (Campbell, Third World Quarterly). This very scarce signed limited edition of Fatima Meer's Higher than Hope, signed by Mandela and Meer and published in South Africa, is one of only 100 copies issued to commemorate his release from prison that year. The first authorized biography of Mandela, Higher than Hope initially appeared in 1988, while Mandela was still in prison. Meer, a fellow leader in the fight against apartheid and a close colleague of both Nelson and Winnie Mandela, importantly provides "much information on Mandela the politician and resistance leader… [and] the sections on Mandela in prison provide a deeper insight into his character, charisma, and potential as a leader of a free South Africa. We see the imprisoned Mandela maintaining his dignity and optimism, furthering his education, writing to his children to stay in school and pursue advanced degrees, engaging in free and open-ended political discussions with prisoners of differing ideological persuasions, and even impressing his captors with his commanding presence. Meer herself visited Mandela during his last year in prison… The portrait that generally emerges is of a man of integrity, magnanimity, courage, and political astuteness" (New York Review of Books). Higher than Hope "is thoroughly engaging, informative and moving. More than anything else, Meer's biography of Mandela delivers the story of a man whose every waking moment has been devoted to African liberation" (Los Angeles Times). With excepts of Mandela's letters from prison and writings, including his eloquent 1964 "Statement from the Dock." Featuring 36 pages of black-and-white photogravures, in-text illustrations, and five pages of facsimiles of official documents. With foreword by Winnie Mandela and preface by Meer. Precedes the same year's trade edition. With binder's ticket of Natal Ruling Company, Durban.
Fine condition.