[COOK] Costumes of different nations, in miniature, from drawings by Alfred Mills. With descriptions.

London : Darton, Harvey, & Darton … and J. Harris,  1814. Miniature book, 62 x 62 mm., publisher’s roan (expertly rebacked), gilt lettering to spine; child’s name to preliminary blank; 96 pp. with 47 copperplate illustrations of peoples of the world; a very good copy.

A charming miniature book in the form of an ethnographical tour of different races of the world. The studies include descriptions of the indigenous inhabitants of Greenland, Oonalaska, China, Peru, Tahiti and New Zealand. The final section of the book (with 9 pages and 4 plates), captioned ‘South Sea’, concerns the Society Islands (Tahiti) and New Zealand, and is largely based on the discoveries of Cook, with frequent references to the explorer.

Rare. Only two examples recorded in Australian collections (State Library of New South Wales; University of Melbourne); Monash University holds the 1811 edition.

For the attribution of authorship to Priscilla Wakefield, see Darton, Lawrence, The Dartons (London : British Library, 2004, p. 177).

Welsh 4986; Spielmann 364