Home / Browse / Photography / The Life and Times of Patuone, The Celebrated Ngapuhi Chief.
DAVIS, Charles Oliver Bond.
The Life and Times of Patuone, The Celebrated Ngapuhi Chief.
Publisher: Auckland: J.H. Field, Steam Printing Office, 1876
Stock code: 68818
Price: £575 Currency Conversion
First edition, uncommon, COPAC shewing just BL and Oxford, OCLC lists only 10 copies in the US. Life of the Maori chieftain who witnessed Cook's arrival in New Zealand as a boy, his father Tapua being received on board Endeavour by Captain Cook when he arrived off Cape Brett in 1769. "I saw Cook's vessel. To meet it went the people in four canoes … The canoes were paddled to the vessel, the Chiefs went on board, and my father received presents of garments …When the Europeans landed, the Hokianga tribes were in great alarm. I looked into the faces of these strange people greatly wondering." In his time a valiant war-leader, Patuone enjoyed good relations with the British governors of New Zealand, particularly Sir George Grey, and was influential in the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Questions have been raised about Patuone's actual age, and his account of Cook's visit, but a key aspect of the role of the rangatira, or tribal chieftain, was the retention and accurate exposition of tribal history. Early European settlers were regularly astounded by the mental capacities of these living repositories. Patuone was very friendly with Davis, who had worked as an interpreter at the meetings leading to the Treaty of Waitangi, and served in various capacities aboriginal agencies, and offered him this very full and highly detailed autobiography. Davis's writings have been described as "a worthy memorial to a more determined believer in a bicultural future than most of his contemporaries" (DNZB) Remarkable photographic record of an eyewitness to Cook's voyages.
Duodecimo. Original grey card printed wraps. Original albumen print photographic frontispiece of Patuone by Auckland photographer, G. Redfern. Wraps somewhat soiled and rubbed, spine cracked and chipping, small piece lacking from the upper wrap, just biting the printed border of the title, but no loss of text, a very good copy.
