Lot Details
Lot 78
ELLIS, WILLIAM Polynesian Researches, During a Residence of Nearly Six Years in the South Sea Islands; Including Descriptions of the Natural History and Scenery of the Islands...
London: Fisher, Son, & Jackson, 1829. First edition. Two volumes. Modern three-quarters tan calf gilt over marbled boards, the spines with red and black lettering labels. 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches (22 x 13 cm); 9 with 9 engraved plates and maps including frontispieces (one folding); xvi, 536; viii, 576 pp. Foxing to plates.
Noted by Hill as "one of the most important and enlightened missionary accounts of the South Seas, especially of Tahiti... Its publication helped alter the perception of missionaries in the eyes of those who thought of them as ignorant and narrow-minded men..." Forbes wrote: "One of the most important books on the history and ethnology of the Society Islands, by one of the most perceptive of the missionary travelers in the Pacific... He was stationed at Tahiti from 1817 to 1822, during which time very little seems to have escaped his notice. There are occasional references and comparisons between Tahiti and the Hawaiian Islands throughout the text, all the more important since Ellis was a resident of both island groups..." Forbes 718; Hill 549
C
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