Through Polynesia and Papua. Wanderings with a Camera in Southern Seas
London, G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., 1911.
Octavo, xvi, 197 pages plus a folding map and 91 pages of plates from photographs (many full-page).
Dark green cloth lettered and ruled in gilt and blind; cloth a little marked and bumped at the extremities, with minimal wear to the rear bottom corner; edges foxed (bottom edge uncut); endpapers offset; occasional light foxing; mild signs of age and use; contemporary ownership details on the flyleaf; a very good copy.
'My views and opinions upon the Missionary question may not, in some quarters, be perceived with approval. They are, however, the results of years of investigation and close study of a subject which I approached with an impartial and unprejudiced mind. I have also the satisfaction of knowing, for a certainty, that my conclusions in the matter are those of a great majority of Government Officials, resident traders, and those travellers who have visited the islands' (the introduction; see also the Appendix, pages 191-97). There may or may not be any connection with this disclaimer in the third paragraph of the introduction, but fully half of the illustrations include bare-breasted or naked women. More than a handful carry captions like 'Tahitian Girl in dishabille', 'A Woodland Nymph, Tahiti', 'Tahitian Girl, Bathing', and 'Girl washing, Raratonga'. We have previously sold a copy published by Francis Griffiths in London in the same year (1911); it was bound in red cloth and reproduced in gilt on the front cover a young reclining 'Tahitian Girl' (see the plate facing page 1). The author has dedicated the book 'To my Wife | Who, as in the past, accompanied me in my wanderings'.
Item #80252
Price (AUD):
$200.00