![Blomerus (Marié), Phil du Plessis & Hugo Neirinckx. Wurm 8 [Cover design by Wopko Jensma]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/87000.jpg)
![Blomerus (Marié), Phil du Plessis & Hugo Neirinckx. Wurm 8 [Cover design by Wopko Jensma] - Image 2](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/87000_2.jpg)
![Blomerus (Marié), Phil du Plessis & Hugo Neirinckx. Wurm 8 [Cover design by Wopko Jensma] - Image 3](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/87000_3.jpg)
![Blomerus (Marié), Phil du Plessis & Hugo Neirinckx. Wurm 8 [Cover design by Wopko Jensma] - Image 4](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/87000_4.jpg)
![Blomerus (Marié), Phil du Plessis & Hugo Neirinckx. Wurm 8 [Cover design by Wopko Jensma] - Image 5](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/87000_5.jpg)
![Blomerus (Marié), Phil du Plessis & Hugo Neirinckx. Wurm 8 [Cover design by Wopko Jensma] - Image 6](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/87000_6.jpg)
Blomerus (Marié), Phil du Plessis & Hugo Neirinckx. Wurm 8 [Cover design by Wopko Jensma]
£250
Pretoria,, Wurm, March 1968.
8vo. Original stapled pictorial wrappers.
Wurm was a South African avant-garde literary periodical, with this the eighth issue published in March 1968. This edition was co-edited by Marié Blomerus, Phil du Plessis, and Hugo Neirinckx, and featured illustrations by notable artists such as Anna Vorster, Walter Battiss and Wopko Jensma.
Wurm emerged during the 1960s as a platform for experimental Afrikaans literature, embracing concrete and visual poetry, and fostering connections with the international avant-garde. From its fifth issue onward, under the editorial leadership of Blomerus and du Plessis, the magazine expanded its scope to include interviews with visual artists and a broader range of literary forms. The magazine’s open editorial policy attracted young, free-thinking individuals, particularly Afrikaans speakers critical of the state and government policies.
The publication’s name, Wurm, was inspired by a poem by Eugène Marais titled “The Soul of the White Ant,” symbolizing a worm demolishing the walls of establishment—a metaphor for challenging the foundations of traditional Afrikaans literature.
In stock
Some tanning to covers, particularly spine, some rubbing.
Illustrations. Cover design by Wopko Jensma.
Related products
African literature
London, Heinemann, 1958.
First edition, first impression; 8vo. Original brick-red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
The first edition of Nigerian author Achebe's first novel, one of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'. Things Fall Apart is the first part of the author's 'African Trilogy', a compelling story of one man's battle to protect his community against the forces of change, seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a literary staple of schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. Scarce.
African literature
A Journal of African and Afro-American Literature. No.15
Ibadan, Nigeria, For Mbari Club by Longmans of Nigeria, August 1964.
Small folio. Original pictorial wrappers.
An attractive issue of this seminal West African literary journal, with cover design by Jacob Afolabi.
"The steady development of Black Orpheus over the last seven years amounts to a remarkable achievement. It has succeeded in breaking the vicious circle that seems to inhibit the development of a proper reading public by its continued existence, by its very availability; more than that, it has also gone on to establish itself as one of the most important formative influences in modern African literature.…It can be said, without much exaggeration, that the founding of Black Orpheus, if it did not directly inspire new writing in English-speaking Africa, at least coincided with the first promptings of a new, modern, literary expression and re-inforced it by keeping before the potential writer the example of the achievements of the French-speaking and Negro American writers." (Abiola Irele, editor, Journal of Modern African Studies). The magazine ceased publication in 1975.
African literature
A Journal of African and Afro-American Literature. No.4
Ibadan, Nigeria, General Publications Section, Ministry of Education, October 1958.
Small folio. Original pictorial wrappers.
An early issue of this seminal West African literary journal, contributors include Paul Vesey, Gerald Moore, Ezekiel Mpahlele, Geormbeeyi Adali-Mortti and Randolph Rawlins.
"The steady development of Black Orpheus over the last seven years amounts to a remarkable achievement. It has succeeded in breaking the vicious circle that seems to inhibit the development of a proper reading public by its continued existence, by its very availability; more than that, it has also gone on to establish itself as one of the most important formative influences in modern African literature.…It can be said, without much exaggeration, that the founding of Black Orpheus, if it did not directly inspire new writing in English-speaking Africa, at least coincided with the first promptings of a new, modern, literary expression and re-inforced it by keeping before the potential writer the example of the achievements of the French-speaking and Negro American writers." (Abiola Irele, editor, Journal of Modern African Studies). The magazine ceased publication in 1975.
African literature
London, Dorothy Crisp, [c.1946].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s 6d.
First published in South Africa in 1946, Peter Abrahams' classic novel Mine Boy exposed South Africa's fledgling racial apartheid system and townships to the world - and its wisdom, vividness and political power endures to this day.
African literature
Durban, The Knox Publishing Company, 1944.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth-backed boards. Dust-jacket, priced 4/-.
"An enchanting tale of Matambo, a hero of the Matabele people..." (jacket blurb). Scarce.