Non-fiction

Studies in Murder – Edmund Pearson

An unusual Modern Library edition given the factual content. A nice 1950′s copy with slightly chipped dust jacket. Top edge stained blue to match jacket as required.

True crime by American criminologist Pearson famous for his analysis of the Lizzie Borden Murders and the Hauptmann Case. We have catalogued it also under fiction because of his easy story telling style

Edmund Lester Pearson (1880-1937) was a highly regarded write of real crime … he was also a librarian to Congress which is why he had time to research and write no doubt!

Person Understood the motive …

$40.00

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A Sort of Life – Graham Greene – First Edition 1971

Published by the Bodley Head, London a first edition 1971 in very good condition.

Autobiography of Greene’s earlier years. He was almost permanently drunk during his final year at Oxford and seems quite proud of it … and he touches on a bit of spying and some writing success and failure and borrowing money from his mother. First Edition.

A sort of Life – we could all aspire to

$30.00

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Brown Men and Women or The South Sea Islands in 1895 and 1896 – Edward Reeves – First Edition 1898

Published by Swan Sonnenschein & Co, London in 1898. Large octavo, 294 pages with sixty illustrations and a large folding map (in excellent condition) . Bright gilt embossed image on front boards, original maroon cloth covered binding in very good condition.

Edward Reeves was a New Zealand missionary who spent many years on various islands in the South Pacific. He gives forthright observations on native culture and recounts his own experiences on Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tahiti, Society Islands etc.

The folding maps is of Tongatabu. The images are a bit peculiar at times, in particular the “cannibal feast in the making” … looks more like Hollywood to us. Regardless, we find the book honest and useful despite the unsatisfactory title

Reeves in the Pacific with his camera in the 1890’s

$80.00

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Isles of Illusion (Letters from the South Seas) – Edited by Bohun Lynch – First Edition 1925

First edition published by Small. Maynard and Co, Boston in 1923.

Octavo, 331 pages, browned because of nature of paper otherwise very clean internally. Gilt title to front board still bright and clean, spine somewhat sunned. A pretty good copy.

The author of the many emotional and illuminating letters was to remain anonymous and Lynch refers to him as Asterisk in the lengthy introduction. We learn there that the author, real name Robert James Fletcher (1877-1965), was an Oxford graduate and man of taste. The letters result from over seven years in the New Hebrides and it was tough for Fletcher.

J.G. Bonhun Lynch (1884-1928) has some success as a novelist. Based on the quality of the letters, English publisher Constable convinced Asterisk (Fletcher) to publish a novel which he did titled “Gone Native a Tale of the South Seas” … it was semi-autobiographical.

Fletcher wrote many letters before Gone Native

$50.00

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Manga Reva – The Forgotten Islands – Signed by Author Robert Eskeridge – First Edition1931

A Voyager favourite and the book about Manga Reva the largest island within the Gambier Group.

The Polynesian Gambier group are tiny with a total population of around 1,400 people mostly on Manga Reva. The total area is about 30 square kms. At one time the islands supported several thousand but over logging ruined the islands position in Polynesian trade routed and they fell into decline before stabilising in the late 19th century. It is an important link to anyone wanting to travel to the Pitcairn Islands and also, unfortunately, has been affected by French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

Published by Bobbs-Merrill in 1931, a first edition. Large octavo, 286 pages, original blue cloth covered binding. Good to better condition some evidence of a damp mark in against the spine, more evident in the endpapers, bar that very clean and readable.

Signed by the author Robert Lee Eskeridge (1891-1975) a very talented American artist, and the book contains many illustrations based on his superb paintings, as well as his photographs. It is not clear how long he spent on the island but it was quite some years based on the relationships he formed and the depth of his observations.

Unique book on Manga Reva – Signed

$70.00

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The Island Builders of the Pacific – Walter Ivens – First Edition 1930 – Prestigious Ownership Scarce Dust Jacket

Published by Seeley, London a first edition 1930 in very good condition with full dust jacket. Prestigious relevant ownership.

Title continues … “How and Why the People of Mala Construct their Artificial Islands, the Antiquity and Doubtful Origin of the Practice, with a Description of the Social Organization, Magic and Religion of their Inhabitants”

The author Walter G. Ivens, at the time, was a Research Fellow of the University of Melbourne and had already authored several respected anthropological works. Very good condition and very rare to find it in its dust jacket.

Thick octavo, 317 pages, 18 illustrations from photographs, three maps of which two are folding and one most interesting sketch map of Mala.

The book covers; North Mala; the Artificial Islands; Social Organisation; Marriage, Women and Children; Ghosts; Priests and Sacrifices; Sharks and Crocodiles; Porpoise and Turtle Hunting; War and Fighting; Burials, Death-feasts and Panpipes; Magic, Divination, Omens, Signs and Dreams; Ceremonies, Tabu, Restrictions and Curses; The North-East lagoon and its People; Gardens and House Building; The People of Morodo; Folk-lore and The Cultures of North Mala.

Ownership stamp of esteemed anthropologist Harold W Scheffler (1932-2015) at Yale and his name written and dated 1960 when he would have been completing his PhD at Chicago where he was a Fullbright scholar. During that period he conducted 18 months field work on the island of Choiseul in the Solomons so this book may have been with him. He joined the Yale faculty in 1963 and his principle research continued in the Solomon Islands and also Vanuatu and among the aboriginal people of Australia focusing on kinship and social organisation. He published many papers in this field. The book has many careful and tidy pencil annotations which could be removed but we have not as we believe it greatly adds to the interest of this copy.

Scarce interesting prestigious owner

$160.00

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Studies in Murder – Edmund Pearson

A Sort of Life – Graham Greene – First Edition 1971

Brown Men and Women or The South Sea Islands in 1895 and 1896 – Edward Reeves – First Edition 1898

Isles of Illusion (Letters from the South Seas) – Edited by Bohun Lynch – First Edition 1925

Manga Reva – The Forgotten Islands – Signed by Author Robert Eskeridge – First Edition1931

The Island Builders of the Pacific – Walter Ivens – First Edition 1930 – Prestigious Ownership Scarce Dust Jacket

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