Louis Leipoldt

Click any photo to see it enlarged, and step through the rest.

front

info card

Cachet: The cachet on this cover reproduces a well-known Leipoldt poem describing October in the Cederberg countryside, with small illustrations of birds and insects woven directly between the lines of text. A bird perches beside the opening lines, a beetle sits amid the middle verses, and a shrike is shown mid-flight further down the page. Leipoldt's own signature appears beneath the poem in flowing script. Note: the verse itself is a copyrighted poem by C. Louis Leipoldt and cannot be reproduced here, so it has been described rather than transcribed. The warm sepia background gives the cover an aged, literary feel, fitting for a cover commemorating a poet rather than an event or institution. A single RSA 5c stamp shows a portrait of C. Louis Leipoldt, marking the years 1880 to 1947. Two Clanwilliam postmarks, each built around an illustration of a wildflower, cancel the stamp.

Info card

INFO CARD (biographical booklet) - AFRIKAANS C. Louis Leipoldt - 'n Lewenskets CHRISTIAAN FREDERIK LOUIS LEIPOLDT is op 28 Desember 1880 op Worcester gebore. Hy was die vierde kind van 'n gewese sendeling en latere NG-predikant, ds. C.F. Leipoldt van Clanwilliam. Chris, of Louis as hy in die Kaap bekend was, het nie 'n formele skoolopleiding gehad nie. Daarna kry sy vader onderrig in die tuis en matrikuleer in 1897. Daarna begin hy sy loopbaan in die joernalistiek, waarvoor hy 'n besondere aanleg toon. Met die uitbreek van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in 1899 werk hy as korrespondent vir oorsese koerante wat die Boere se saak goedgesind is. Hy word die 19-jarige onderredakteur van die South African News en verslag oor die verhore van die Kaap se rebelle wat na krygswet in 1902 verbrig is. Daarna vertrek Leipoldt na Europa, waar hy aanvanklik verslae oor die stakings in Holland, België en Frankryk verskaf. In 1903 skryf hy as mediese student by Guy's Hospital in Londen, waar hy later die redakteur van die tydskrif The Hospital word. In hierdie tyd word hy bekend aan die groot hospitale in Europa en Amerika. Na afloop van sy huisdoktoraat in 1907 word hy na Berlyn, waar hy gekonsentreer het op ortopedie werk. In Graz bestudeer hy daarna 'n jaar lank die vlyt van kinders. Hy vertrek weer in Duitsland, hoewel hy om gesondheidsredes na Amerika onderneem het om 'n lang seereis in 1911 te maak, totdat hy weer gesond geword het. Hy word deskepgeneesheer op die Oos-Indiese roete en besoek Java, Sumatra en Borneo. Leipoldt keer weer terug na Londen, waar hy 'n skoolarts word. In 1914 keer hy na Suid-Afrika terug en word hoof van die mediese inspektoraat op die skole in die Transvaal aangestel. In 1919 aanvaar hy die direkteurskap op die deeltjie pos in die Volksheim in Pretoria. 'n Jaar later word hy egter tot die rustelose pos in die redaksie van die Volkstem in Kaapstad gekoop en in 1926 word hy redakteur van die South African Medical Journal. Die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand ken in 1934 'n eredoktorsgraad in die letterkunde aan hom toe. Na sy aftrede op sestig lê hy sy hoofsaaklik die joernalistiek toe en hy is die betreklik vroeë ouderdom van 66 oorlede. Op 12 April 1947 in die woonhuis waarin hy skryf as joernalis in die aanvangsjare gewerk het. Hoewel Leipoldt se huistaal Duits was, het hy Engels in sy mediese praktyk en onder die skuilnaam Pheidippides skreve Engelse gedigte wat onder meer gebundel is in The Ballad of Dick King and other Poems, wat postuum in 1949 in Kaapstad deur Stewart uitgewers gepubliseer is. Die jong Afrikaanse taalbeweging het hom uiteindelik tot gebruik van sy oorspronklike Afrikaans gebring en Jan F.E. Celliers rig in die oorspronklike gebonde en die van Totius en Jan F.E. Celliers vind dit die gedigte van die Twaalfvermoë opgemerk, die jong digkuns aangevat. Nie alleen die produktiewe erkende werk nie, maar ook 'n baie beweerde werk as digter, was hy ook 'n dramaturg, 'n romanskrywer en skrywer van kortverhale, kinderstories en speurverhale. Sy meer waardevolle bydraes tot Afrikaanse kook- en huishoudkundige literatuur en skrywe met bydraes op verskeie kulturele terreine. Sy mees opmerklike bydrae bly egter op die gebied van die digkuns. Twee van sy digbundels, Oom Gert Vertel en Uit Drie Wêrelddele, verseker hom sy plek in die geskiedenis van Afrikaanse letterkunde. INFO CARD (biographical booklet) - ENGLISH C. Louis Leipoldt - a biographical sketch CHRISTIAAN FREDERIK LOUIS LEIPOLDT was born on 28 December 1880 at Worcester. He was the fourth child of a former missionary and later Dutch Reformed minister, the Rev. C.F. Leipoldt of Clanwilliam. Chris, or Louis as he was known in the Cape, had no formal schooling. He was taught at home by his father and matriculated in 1897. He then commenced his career in journalism, for which he showed a remarkable talent. When the Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899, he worked as correspondent for several overseas newspapers that were sympathetic to the Boer cause. At the age of 19 he became sub-editor of the South African News and reported the trials of the Cape rebels until the newspaper was closed down in 1902 under martial law. Leipoldt then left for Europe. At first he roamed about and reported on strikes in Holland, Belgium and France. In 1903 he enrolled as a medical student at Guy's Hospital in London, where he later became editor of the magazine The Hospital. In this way he became acquainted with the large hospitals in Europe and America. After completing his internship in 1907 he went to Berlin, where he concentrated on orthopaedics. He then studied children's ailments in Graz for a year. He also worked in America, again in London and then in Germany, until he had to undertake a long voyage in 1911 for reasons of health. He became ship's doctor on the East Indian sea route and also visited Java, Sumatra and Borneo. Leipoldt again returned to London, where he became a school doctor. In 1914 he returned to South Africa and was appointed head of the medical inspectorate of schools in the Transvaal. In 1919 he accepted the same post in the Cape, and in 1925 the restless Leipoldt joined the editorial staff of the Volkstem in Cape Town and, a year later, however, he established himself as paediatrician in Cape Town and in 1926 became editor of the South African Medical Journal. In 1934 the University of the Witwatersrand awarded him an honorary arts doctorate. After his retirement at the age of sixty he concentrated on journalism, and he died at the relatively early age of 66 on 12 April 1947. Although Leipoldt's home language was German, he used English in his medical practice and under the pseudonym Pheidippides wrote several English poems that were compiled in a volume entitled The Ballad of Dick King and other Poems, which was published posthumously in 1949 in Cape Town by Stewart publishers. The young Afrikaans language movement, however, brought him back to his lyrical poetry and, as a member of the so-called Triumvirate (Driemanskap) of the Second Afrikaans Language Movement in Afrikaans together with Totius and Jan F.E. Celliers, he produced some of the greatest contributions to the Afrikaans literature. Not only did he produce enduring work as a poet, but he was also a playwright, a novelist and author of short stories, children's stories and detective stories. He also made valuable contributions to Afrikaans cooking and historical literature and wrote quite a number of articles on medical questions. His most important contribution is, however, in the field of poetry. Two of his anthologies, Oom Gert Vertel and Uit Drie Wêrelddele, ensured him his place in the history of Afrikaans literature.

Additional information

This cover is postmarked on 3 September 1980 in Clanwilliam. It carries the RSA 5c stamp portraying C. Louis Leipoldt, the poet, doctor and journalist born in nearby Worcester in 1880. Leipoldt's father served as a Dutch Reformed minister in Clanwilliam itself, and though the poet's home language was German, he became one of the leading voices of the Second Afrikaans Language Movement alongside Totius and Jan F.E. Celliers.

You might also like

Antique Cape Furniture

1992-07-09

National Stamp Day 1993

1993-10-08

Anton van Wouw

1992-10-08