2025 Signed by Charles van Sandwyk - Fah-nama-nama-nama-lah,Tale of One Elephant
A superb signed copy of Charles van Sandwyk’s intimate elephant tale, issued in a very small hand-bound edition and richly illustrated with tipped-in colour plates, decorative papers, and facsimile ephemera.
Author: Charles van Sandwyk. Written and illustrated by the author.
Title: Fah-nama-nama-nama-lah. A Tale of One Elephant & Three Continents.
Publisher: Vancouver, The Savuti Press, 2025.
Edition: Limited “Touring Edition” of 150 hand-bound copies. Signed by Charles van Sandwyk.
Language: English.
Pages: Unpaginated, 28 pages.
Size: 10 x 7 inches.
Binding: Fine. Original shimmering bronze-gold card wrappers with hand-stitched spine, decorative bamboo and botanical ornamentation, and two mounted pictorial labels to the upper cover, including the touching image of a child embraced by an elephant. The inner wrappers are decorated with butterflies and additional colour artwork. Beautifully preserved and protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Fine. Bright, clean, and tight throughout, printed on fine textured paper. Signed in ink by Charles van Sandwyk on the preliminary blank leaf, as shown. Includes two facsimile pieces of ephemera incorporated into the narrative, a passenger ticket and a zoo admission ticket.
Illustrations: Lavishly illustrated throughout by van Sandwyk with delicate pen drawings, decorative calligraphy, butterfly studies, tipped-in colour illustrations mounted on shimmering gold card, and a striking double-page colour spread. The design combines ornamental borders, calligraphic details, fine papers, and inset illustrations in the manner of a contemporary private press artist’s book.
Estimate: USD 400–500.
The book:
Fah-nama-nama-nama-lah is one of Charles van Sandwyk’s most personal recent productions, recounting the life-spanning friendship between a young boy and an elephant first encountered in Ceylon and rediscovered decades later. Dedicated to Neil Hershfield, whose story inspired the book, it unfolds as a meditation on memory, affection, childhood wonder, and the mysterious persistence of emotional bonds across both time and geography.
Seven years in the making and issued in a scarce “Touring Edition” of only 150 hand-bound copies, the work is as much an object of book art as a narrative. Van Sandwyk’s characteristic mixture of fine printing, whimsical drawing, calligraphy, decorative papers, mounted illustrations, and playful ephemera gives the volume an intimate, handmade quality. This signed example is particularly desirable for collectors of van Sandwyk, contemporary private press books, and finely illustrated artist’s books.
The author:
Charles van Sandwyk, born in South Africa in 1966 and later settled in British Columbia, is one of Canada’s most distinctive contemporary illustrators, writers, and private press bookmakers. His work draws upon natural history, fairy tales, travel, childhood memory, and the traditions of the Golden Age illustrators, while retaining an immediately recognizable style of delicate line, luminous colour, and gentle humour.
Beyond his independent publications through The Fairy Press and Savuti Press, van Sandwyk is widely known for his celebrated work with The Folio Society, including The Wind in the Willows and The Blue Fairy Book. His finely produced limited editions, often hand assembled and issued in small numbers, have developed a devoted international following among collectors of illustrated books and modern book arts.