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• Auction House:
  Webb's
• Sale Name:
  The C.L. Thomas Collection
• Sale Date:
  21 Mar 2012 ~ 12noon
• Lot #:
  123
• Lot Description:
  Earle, Augustus - A narrative of a nine months' residence in New Zealand, in 1827
  Together with a journal of a residence in Tristan d'Acunha, an island situated between South America and the Cape of Good Hope. 1st ed. London : Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, 1832. 8vo. x, 371p. Frontispiece, six plates. 1757. Rebound. Blind- and gold-tooled half leather/marbled boards. Marbled endpapers and page edges. Some wear to binding, especially to spine and corners. Some foxing/browning to contents, especially to plates. Hand-coloured bookplate of Sir William H Cooper, Bart, on front pastedown. Earle's crowded six months (not nine) in northern New Zealand gave posterity a double legacy. In his text a fascinating if not unprejudiced outline of Maori social life and custom and European intruders in the amalgam's most unsettling period; in the sketches not merely landscapes but a series of reclining or posturing figures, the most striking of any visitor since the navigators' artists. Earle crossed from Sydney to Hokianga in 1827, moving across after a short stay to the Bay of Islands. The 'Narrative' crisply depicts not merely the set scenes such as tattooing, the haka a hui to discuss peace or war, the grimmer aspects of eliminating an expendable slave or errant wife, but an almost pastoral glimpse of village agriculture. The death of Hongi, the tensions, local conflicts, and disputes contrast with his strictures on the missionaries, later challenged and unwarrantably extreme, prompted by a genuine sympathy for the Maori. An appealing copy of this important and scarce work. G.
• Estimate:
  NZ$800 - 800
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Books & Manuscripts

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.