Pacific Island Records : Fish Hooks

With 207 illustrations and 49 figures in the text and an introduction by Thomas A. Joyce, M. A. Deputy Keeper of Ethnology, British Museum. London : Seeley, Service & Co., 1928. Quarto, gilt-lettered brown cloth (lightly marked, corners a little bumped) top edge gilt, light foxing to edges and preliminaries, pp. xxiv; 133, black and white photographic plates, text vignettes, internally clean. Printed in an edition of 250 copies, this out of series.

A monumental work of scholarship on the subject, the product of twelve years of research based on the author’s own collection and consultation with museum collections internationally. Copies are highly prized by collectors and rarely offered for sale. 

Part 1 covers Polynesia (Chatham Islands, New Zealand, Tongan Group, Samoan Group, Ellice Group, Union Group, Pukapuka, Niue, Cook and Hervey Groups, Society Group, Paumoto Group, Marquesan Group, Hawaiian Group, Easter Island; Part II : Loyalty Group, New Hebrides, Gilbert Group, Solomon Group, New Britain, New Ireland, Admiralty Group, Murray Island (Mer), New Guinea, Fiji; Part III : Gilbert Group, Marshall Group, Caroline Group, Caroline Group (East), Caroline Group (West), Caroline Group (Central); Part IV : New Zealand, Tonga, Rotuma, Hervey Group, Cook Group, Marquesas, Easter Island, Solomon Group, New Hebrides, Murray Island (Mer), New Guinea, Caroline Group (West), Forgeries.

Two copies have appeared at auction in the past 40 years, Forum Auctions, London, 2020 (sold GBP 1,000) and Bonhams, New York, 2009 (USD $4270).