Thirty Years in the South Seas. The Bismarck Archipelago Land, Natives and Customs.
(Circa 1940s). Stock ID #180557 Translation from the German of Richard Parkinson's scarce work on the Bismarck Archipelago, first published in 1907. This recently discovered typescript by translator and Rabaul resident Noel C. Barry is based on the second edition published in 1926. When referring to this item please quote stockid 180557.
Carbon typescript, title-page + 238 pages, 35 x 22.5 cm, manila card wrappers (marked D.A.S.F. Rabaul in red pencil) bound into a green pebbled cloth Penfold's springback letter file (slightly scuffed), edges of the typescript a little ragged, but in very good condition.
Barry began work on his translation in the 1920s after returning from service in WWI, and completed it in the 1940s before War again intervened. The scholarly edition by John Dennison and J. Peter White of Parkinson's original work published in 1997 (and online in 2010) by Sydney University made note of Barry's work observing "For many people, this Barry translation became the sole avenue into Parkinson’s book."
This copy, with an early New Guinea provenance, is from the collection of R. L. Pulsford, a colleague of Noel Barry's at the Department of Agriculture Stock and Fisheries, Rabaul, has the errors in transcription mentioned in the Sydney University edition and as such is a valuable insight into the publishing history of a foundation work on the Pacific.
Price: $275.00 AU