Polynesian Reminiscences by W.T. Pritchard first edition 1866

PRITCHARD, William Thomas (1829-1907). Polynesian Reminiscences; or, Life in the South Pacific Islands. London: Chapman and Hall, 1866.
 
First edition. Contemporary half calf over cloth boards, spine gilt in compartments, gilt titles and rules. Some rubbing and wear to the spine ends and extremities, with general handling wear to the boards and signs of use internally, but a sound, very good copy. Herbert F. Anderton of Vaila bookplate to front pastedown. xii, 428 pp. Complete with all four tinted lithographic plates.
 
A first-hand account of nineteenth-century Polynesia by W.T. Pritchard, British consul and adventurer, who had extensive experience in Samoa and Fiji and became the first British consul to Fiji in 1858. Born in Tahiti and raised partly in the Pacific, Pritchard was unusually well placed to record the politics, customs and society of the islands at a period of intense European intervention.
The work ranges across Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, with discussion of indigenous government, warfare, diplomacy and British and French involvement in the region. The illustrations include "Conference with Natives on Board H.M.S. Pelorus", "Tui Mathuata and the Sailor", "Thakambau, King of Fiji, and his Son", and the frontispiece showing Fijian women. A very good copy.