Songs and Tales of the Sea Kings. Contributions by Van Wyck Brooks and Suzanne McConnaughey.
Salem: Peabody Museum of Salem, 1957. First Printing of the First US Edition. a Fine tight copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with a hint of fading to the spine. With the subtitle “Interpretations of the oral literature of Polynesia,” this is a book of excellent format in which J. Frank Stimson presents interpretations of several tales and legends and of some ninety chants. Most of the original song and tales were transcribed by him Stimson on the island of Raivavae in the Austral group, on several islands of the Tuarnotuan archipelago, or upon his beloved Tahiti. Most of the tales and songs selected by Marshall are from the Tuamotuan Islands, gathered during the Bishop Museum Tuamotuan Expedition of 1929-1931, on which Stimson served as linguist and I as ethnologist and leader, and on the follow-up during the Bishop Museum Mangarevan Expedition of 1934. The value of the material transcribed by Stimson lies in the recording of the sources, and the fact that we know when, where, from whom, and under what circumstances each legend, chant, and genealogy was transcribed. Item #28122
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