Pacifique

8vo [22 x 14.5 cm]; xv, 180 pp, 15 plates from photos including frontis, index. original cloth, gilt title lettering on front cover and spine, cover lightly soiled, interior is clean, else a fine copy. A picture of this book is available upon request by email. The first half of the book describes the author's journey in 1901 to Baghdad, Basra, Bahirin, Muscat, Sherpore, etc around the Persian Gulf where he visits some areas off the beaten track. The second half of the book describes his stay on several Pacific islands including Tonga, Haapai, Fiji, etc and is remarkable for its explicit illustrations of cannibals, including one entitled 'Cannibals dragging prisoners to the ovens', two others showing cannibals slaughtering their victims. The author didn't seem too concerned about becoming a victim. There have been only two copies at auction in the last 25 years, the last at Sotheby's in 1997 selling at US$782, although it wasn't in as good a condition as this copy.