Briefwisseling oor Kaapse sake 1778-1792

[p. XI]

Foreword

Although the various committees of the Van Riebeeck Society have always been distinguished by the amount of co-operative effort that goes into the Society's books, I think the present volume must be an exceptional one even in that respect. After Dr. Schutte, who is a senior staff member of the Sub-faculty of History at the Free University of Amsterdam, had submitted his finished manuscript there was still a great deal to be done. An English Summary had to be made of the main text and Dr. Schutte's introduction had to be translated into English and Afrikaans. Furthermore, other preliminary or explanatory matter and the footnotes all had to be translated into Afrikaans. In addition some of the annotations had to be expanded. All these tasks had to be completed at great speed.

Although we had several incomplete manuscripts, no complete manuscript was available to use for the 1982 volume. Hence it was decided to work on and complete Dr. Schutte's manuscript in order to make sure that we had a volume this year. The fact that all this had to be done quickly imposed a great strain on members of our Council, all of whom willingly assisted in doing these tasks.

I must particularly thank Dr. Anna Böeseken who, despite many other commitments, worked continuously on the English summary of the Dutch text until she had completed it many months before we thought this was possible. My admiration for her conscientiousness and scholarliness is unbounded. Then, I must also thank Professor Robertson who in his usual erudite and thorough manner examined the manuscript, suggested alterations and contributed further information where necessary to the text and footnotes, as well as making suggestions for the English translation. Professor Roy Pheiffer, both before and after a visit overseas, where he had, indeed, spent part of his leave in consultation with Dr. Schutte in Amsterdam and Hilversum, very willingly did all the translations into Afrikaans and, in addition, translated the introduction into English as well. During my absence overseas he took over from me the task of co-ordinating the material which flowed in from the others whot collaborated in the preparation of this volume. He was then kind enough to check and hand the manuscript in its final form to the printer. On occasions, Professor Webb, Professor Pheiffer and I have sat in Professor Pheiffer's office discussing some of the thorny problems connected with this manuscript and I must thank Professor Webb for his advice and assistance. The task of co-ordination was immensely lightened through

[p. XII]

the efficient help of my own secretary, Mrs. J. Sellicks, who also showed herself expert in deciphering and faultlessly re-typing handwritten alterations which were a potential source of confusion.

The proof reading was shared between Dr. Böeseken, Professor Robertson, Professor Pheiffer and me, as it would have caused further delays if these proofs had to be sent to the editor, Dr. Schutte, in Holland. I am deeply grateful to these conscientious members of our Council for this as well as all else they have done.

The Society is indeed fortunate that we have such dedicated and conscientious Council members who are also scholarly and enthusiastic. It is due to their efforts in addition to those of Dr. Schutte himself that the volume can now be presented to the members of the Society.

We are indebted to Mr. Colin Cochrane, Curator of the Drostdy Museum, Swellendam, for the assistance with the four illustrations from his museum.

I must point out that the Verklarende Woordelys is by no manner of means intended to be exhaustive. Its purpose is only to facilitate the reading of the texts to some extent. The words are spelled as in the text, and the meanings given are only the ones applicable in the contexts in which they appear.

FRANK R. BRADLOW

CHAIRMAN