Details
[HAWAII]. JARVES, James Jackson. History of the Hawaiian Islands.... Honolulu: Charles Edwin Hitchcock, 1847. 8o. Illustrations in text. Contemporary red morocco (rebacked). Third edition, FIRST HAWAIIAN EDITION, and considerably enlarged. Cook's travels to the islands and his death there are criticized heavily by Jarves. Jarves, a well known art collector, was the founder and publisher of the Polynesian, the first newspaper published in the Hawaiian Islands. Forbes 1654. -- [ELLIS, William]. A Journal of a Tour Around Hawaii, the Largest of the Sandwich Islands. Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1825. 12o. One folding engraved map and 5 engraved plates (some minor spotting and browning, map trimmed with slight loss). Contemporary calf (rebacked, repairs at corners); cloth slipcase. FIRST EDITION OF ELLIS' IMPORTANT AND EARLY DESCRIPTION OF HAWAII. Far more than a missionary account, his narrative provided valuable insight into the customs, culture, history, geography, and ethnography of Hawaii. In one particular passage, Ellis gives an early report of surfing, in which the natives use a papa he'e nalu or "wave sliding board" greased with coconut oil. Finding Paradise: Island Art in Private Collections 34. (2)