PBA Galleries

2 volumes. xvi, 536; viii, 576 pp. With 8 copper-engraved plates; 1 wood-engraved plate; 2 copper-engraved maps (1 folding); wood engravings in the text. 21.7x13.5 cm. (8½x5¼"), period half calf & marbled boards, rebacked with original gilt-tooled spine strips laid on, raised bands, morocco lettering pieces. First Edition.

One of the earliest publications of ethnological research by a missionary, 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 declares it to be "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. Provenance: A private Hawaii collection