Pacific Islands

Among Papuan Headhunters – E Baxter Riley – First Edition 1925

A very good copy of Riley’s Papuan classic about the people of the Fly River.

The long subtitle says it all – “An account of the manners and customs of the old Fly River head-hunters, with a description of the secrets of the initiation ceremonies divulged by those who have passed through all the different orders of the craft, by one who has spent many years in their midst.”

Published by Seeley, Service & Co, London. Thick octavo, 316 pages. Extremely well written in depth with very good photographic images … the head being treated perhaps the most confronting. 50 illustrations and 2 maps one folding. A hint of an old embossed stamp on title, the odd superfluous mark, otherwise a really nice copy.

Edward Baxter Riley (1868-1929) was put in charge of the Fly River Mission on the island of Daru in 1901. This followed the death of the great James Chalmers who was killed and devoured in the region. Riley, originally a pharmacist became an expert in Papuan languages, particularly Kiwai and, has since been highly regarded for the work put into this classic anthropological account.

Scarce essential Fly River extensive work

$160.00

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Bligh’s Bad Language – Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty – Greg Dening

A first edition of a special Bligh book.

Published by Cambridge University Press in 1992. Octavo, 445 pages with illustrations, charts and diagrams. A very good copy … as new except for a hint of a score mark on the front dust jacket, now protected in Brodart.

What was going on in England and in the Navy. Was Bligh bad tempered of just ill prepared for what unfolded. Dening a Professor of History at the upmarket Melbourne University provides and extensive view on the reality of the Bounty Mutiny …

Bligh misunderstood and misunderstanding

$30.00

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Aphrodite’s Island – The European Discovery of Tahiti – Anne Salmond.

The author a distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Auckland University.

Large thick octavo, 537 pages, nicely illustrated. Published by the University of California Press. Los Angeles and London in 2010. A fine copy. A heavy book which may require and overseas postage surcharge.

Comprehensive and sophisticated drawing on many references including Tahitian oral histories and artefacts as well as European manuscripts. A book that explores Tahiti and the European interactions with an outward perspective. The perceptions of the Tahitian and the fascinations of the Europeans.

Tahiti and the arrival of the Europeans – a comprehensive work by Salmond

$40.00

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Resolution – Captain Cook’s Second Voyage of Discovery – Peter Aughton.

The author was an engineer, he worked on the development of Concorde, so he brings a scientific style to his writing, which we like.

Large octavo, 189 pages nice illustrations and several super charts. A fine copy.

Cook’s second voyage plunged further South than anyone before him to solve the mystery of the Southernmost Continent. He may have been the first to see the Antarctic Continent south of South Georgia … the jury is still out.

Never with only one objective in mind, Cook then set off for warmer climes and now familiar territory .. to him.

A voyage full of curiosity … the first to properly carry the Harrison chronometer … the one that worked and the longitude solved because of the clock and because of Cook’s careful control over this new fangled precision instrument that looked like a large pocket watch. Difficulties arose, not the least the loss of men from the sister ship Adventure who lost their lives to cannibals.

HMS Resolution apply named and Cook’s Second successful voyage south and into the Pacific.

$35.00

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Discoveries – The Voyages of Captain Cook – Nicholas Thomas

A first edition hardback of a different book about Cook in the Pacific

… hard to believe given the multitude of volumes written about the great man and his three unrivalled voyages.

However, here we have a different author a Professor of Anthropology at Goldsmiths London. So the perspective is different and now very topical. Cook’s encounters with the people of the Pacific were often harmonious but sometimes volatile .. the author seeks to put us in the position of Cook who as time progressed became more aware that his curiosity came with its own challenges.

Large thick octavo, 468 pages, illustrations and charts. Published by Allen Lane, London in 2003. A fine copy.

Captain Cook in the Pacific and his interactions with the people who lived there .

$40.00

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Bligh – Master Mariner – Rob Mundle

A fine first edition of Rob Mundle’s excellent hardback book on Bligh. Large octavo, 368 pages with end paper illustrations and coloured illustrations inside. Published by Hachette, Sydney in 2010. Very good condition.

The writer, a sailor from a sailing family writes about Bligh with a focus on detail and Bligh’s unrivalled skill as a navigator.

He was at the forefront at an early age. With Cook on his fateful third voyage on the Resolution, it was a 24 years old Bligh who took command of the navigation on the voyage home. He was 34 when he found himself in conflict with Fletcher Christian resulting in the epic 47 day open boat voyage from Tonga to Timor. And, 36 when he commanded HMS Pandora around the world … among his company a young Matthew Flinders

William Bligh – another perspective – and no less enlightening

$30.00

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Among Papuan Headhunters – E Baxter Riley – First Edition 1925

Bligh’s Bad Language – Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty – Greg Dening

Aphrodite’s Island – The European Discovery of Tahiti – Anne Salmond.

Resolution – Captain Cook’s Second Voyage of Discovery – Peter Aughton.

Discoveries – The Voyages of Captain Cook – Nicholas Thomas

Bligh – Master Mariner – Rob Mundle

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