Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

2nd reprint.

Item Description

8vo. 8.75 x 5.75 inches. viii + [ii] + 250 pp. Bound in original green cloth, gilt, with gilt vignette on front board, in unclipped pictorial dust wrapper, which has edge wear with some chips and tears. Tape marks on wrapper inside flaps and flyleaves where sellotape has been removed; otherwise a very good copy. Illustrated by chapter heading vignette sketches and by double page map plate. Decorated by title page vignette. Account of the life of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands of the Central Pacific, woven into the travel-autobiography of the author. Arthur Francis Grimble (1888-1956) was a colonial administrator, who served as cadet administrator on the islands from 1914, and later as Resident Commissioner until 1933, becoming a specialist in the myths and oral traditions of the Kiribati people. After serving as Governor in other colonial island groups, he retired back to Britain in 1948 and published this bestselling title.