Pacific Islands

WG Lawes of Savage Island and New Guinea – Joseph King – 1909 First Edition

Published by The Religious Tract Society London in 1909, a First Edition. Original binding with snag top of spine glued otherwise a pretty good complete copy. Gilt titles and image all bright.

388 pages with folding coloured map of PNG and 21 most interesting black and white photographs. Lawes (1839-1907) went to Niue in 1861 for 11 years before then serving in Papua New Guinea in and around Port Moresby for 32 years from 1874. A tough man who worked with Chalmers met Bully Hayes and built the first church and school in Port Moresby.

Pioneering Missionary in PNG – Cornerstone PNG

$120.00

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Darwin and the Beagle – Alan Moorehead

Published in 1969 by Hamish Hamilton, a little ageing tone but really a very good copy with a complete unmarked dust jacket.

Alan Moorehead’s capable and well illustrated account of the Beagle period of Darwin’s great life. Balanced and readable hallmarks of the author.

More than Galapagos

$25.00

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The Contented Botanist – Sophie Ducker

Published in 1988 by Melbourne University at the Miegunyah Press and produced to their usual exceptional standard. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.

Unusual and important work. William Harvey (1811-1886) was one of the great Victorian Botanist. He travelled the Pacific and produced and book on Australian flora Phycologia Australica. He knew Hooker and Professor Asa Gray and corresponded with them. His visits to Australia included meeting the convicts at Port Arthur. This work based on his letters and paper unearthed at the Harvard University herbarium is brilliantly put together by the exceptional Sophie Ducker.

Important records found and presented

$40.00

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Whaling Voyages in the Pacific (1823-1829) – The Dalton Journal – Edited by Niel Gunson

Published National Library of Australia, 1990. First Edition, 140 pages with illustrations and bibliography. Original maroon cloth with title lettered in gilt on spine and front board, inlay of scrimshaw on front board, a fine copy. No dust jacket as issued.

A rare British account of whaling activities in the South Seas (1823-1829), a field dominated by American journals. Provides an eyewitness account of the death of Captain James Cook recalled by a group of elderly Hawaiians. Records the discoveries of Phoenix Island and Canton Island, the new light on the opening up of the Pacific to missionary activity and European settlement.

More than Whaling in this fine journal

$40.00

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Headhunting in The Solomon Islands – Caroline Mytinger

A First edition 1942 of Caroline Mytinger’s well regarded book about the Solomon Islands. Mytinger (1897-1980) was an American portrait painter and a truly independent woman. She was a noted beauty and had modelled for Charles Dana Gibson.

In the 1920’s she decided to travel with a friend Margaret Warner to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. This is one of two book resulting from those expeditions. In her writing she records important ethnographic detail describing individuals with great respect bordering on affection. On returning to the USA the art she produced was exhibited first by famed anthropologist Margaret Mead.

Special book by a special person

$60.00

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A Naturalist in Cannibal Land – 1913 – Arthur Stewart Meek

Meek (1871-1943) was born into a Natural History family. Before he was twenty he was at Coomooboolaroo Station in Queensland collecting for the great Lionel Rothschild for his zoo at Tring. He then travelled New Guinea and the Solomons for both Tring and the Natural History Museum. This is a second impression in very good condition.

This is the book on his travels. Amongst his great finds were the holotyoe and paratype of the Woodlark venomous snake, rare there are still only twelve specimens known. In 1906 he discovered (and shot) the first specimen of the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing Butterfly … the largest in the world.

Many species are named after him … a crested pigeon, lorikeet, pygmy-parrot, crow, dwarf kingfisher etc and several butterflies and moths.

Meek a fearless Natural Historian who made his mark in New Guinea and the Solomons

$160.00

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WG Lawes of Savage Island and New Guinea – Joseph King – 1909 First Edition

Darwin and the Beagle – Alan Moorehead

The Contented Botanist – Sophie Ducker

Whaling Voyages in the Pacific (1823-1829) – The Dalton Journal – Edited by Niel Gunson

Headhunting in The Solomon Islands – Caroline Mytinger

A Naturalist in Cannibal Land – 1913 – Arthur Stewart Meek

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