The Arunta. A Study of a Stone Age People
London, Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1927.
Octavo, two volumes, xxviii, 390 and xvi, 391-646 pages with a map and 88 illustrations plus 146 pages of plates, comprising 231 illustrations (mostly from photographs; one with an overlay key) including 4 in colour (3 double-page, and one folding with an overlay key) and a folding colour map.
Olive-green cloth, top edges gilt (the superior primary binding); rear cover of the first volume slightly marked near the joint and lightly flecked; leading edge of a handful of leaves at the end of the first volume very lightly silverfish-nibbled; endpapers offset and a little tape-marked, with minimal offsetting onto the first and last page of each volume; basically an excellent set with the dustwrapper for Volume 2 only (a little worn, with the original printed price on the spine neatly excised).
The ownership signature and address of Frederick Roy Vyse (1895-1957) are written in ink on the front flyleaf of each volume. His collection of Aboriginal artefacts was said to be the best outside the South Australian Museum: 'he knew the history and meanings of all his collected objects. He started trips to the Northern Territory probably in the late 1930's and was so intensily [sic] interested in the country, scenery, lifestyle, Aboriginal people and the various tribal groups that he returned annually from then on. He usually travelled in a Landrover with a friend from the territory and was accompanied by a couple of Aboriginal trackers. He was always trying to find new routes, passing different stations and missions' (SA Museum archives website).
Item #115404
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