GAP0103 Schweizerbart Stuttgart 1902 1902-1903. 4to. 31 cm. xii, 509 pp. and x, 445 pp. altogether with 192 photographic illustrations (incl. frontispiece to vol. 2) and 44 text figures. 5 plates, and 4 maps (1 double-leaf). Without the separately issed appendix on Samoan skin diseases. Orig. green cloth with decorative gilt title on the spine and the upper boards and each volume with an original mounted photograph on the upper board. Corners very minimally turned, stamp of the library of the Franciscan monastery of Bad Tlz on the titles, a very fine set. * The seminal work on Samoa by German ethnologist Augustin Krmer (1865-1941). Krmer travelled in the Pacific from 1893 to 1895 and again from 1897 to 1899, spending most of this time on the Samoan Islands. This work is the culmination of his studies and covers all aspects of Samoan life and culture. The first volume begins with an overview of Krmer's own work, relating where and how he gathered material. The first chapter covers the development of the Samoan constitution and administration. The largest part of the first volume is devoted to the recording of genealogies and Samoan stories, myths and legends. These are given in both the original Samoan and a German translation. The second volume begins with an overview of European voyages to Samoa and the scientific work undertaken as part of those voyages. This is followed by a 80-page chapter on Samoan anthropology and sociology. The largest part however is given to a study of all aspects of Samoan life, including medicine, gardening and cooking, fishing, the trades of the men (incl. carving and house building), ornaments and clothing (incl. 15 pages on tapa cloth), games, dance, music and warfare. This followed by two chapters on fauna and flora and a 6-page bibliography. * Krmer's highly important book was used in Samoa until well into the 1970s as the basis for legal judgements and to settle inheritance disputes (see Beck: Germania in Pacifico, p. 53, note 2: "Heute noch wird in Samoa nach diesem grundlegenden Werk Recht gesprochen"). The significance of the work for Samoa is also attested by the fact that is it the only publication from colonial times referenced in "Samoa. The making of the Constitution' (2002). The ethnographical part contains a wealth of information and photographic material. $4750.00AUD
Click here to order or message the dealer