1975 1st ED ISLANDS PACIFIC BOOK TRAVEL PHOTOS ILLUS DJ

ISLES OF THE FRIGATE BIRD
by Ronald Syme

Publ. Michael Joseph,

London

1975

First Edition. Hardcover with jacket

Ronald Syme lived for twenty years on the small but beautiful island of Tarotonga, getting to know the Polynesian inhabitants. He acquired a lovely wife and an equally attractive daughter - all the time studying the fascinating, infuriating, beguiling ways of Polynesian womanhood. Writing with insight and humour, the author tells his personal story of a way of life which is already vanishing.

When he set out on a South Pacific adventure the Irish author did not expect to become a fixture on Rarotonga, but he did. He arrived there in the mid-1950s and at time of publication, 20 years on, he was still happily there, complete with cottage, block of land, Polynesian wife and their daughter. Here he tells of his experiences and explains why Captain Cook found it so difficult to persuade his men to leave these islands.

Some good b/w photos, including frontis. Simple maps to end papers. 235 pages. 22c, By 14.5cm.

Condition: Good jacket with a bit of rubbing, graphite on end paper from erased pencil, clean inside, no inscriptions.