Omai, Pacific Envoy

by E. H. McCormick

Auckland University Press, 1977, [First Edition], ISBN 0196479525, colour frontispiece, colour plates, b/w illustrations, illustrated end-papers, hardcover, dustjacket 

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing to edges, dustjacket has some closed tears with a little rubbing, chipping and small tears to edges, (see photographs) 

'Mai or Omai, as he was known to Europeans, was the first Polynesian to visit Britain.  Picked up by one of Cook's captains, he was carried to England where he became a human curiosity and the lion of fashionable London.  Under the patronage of Lord Sandwich and Joseph Banks, he was presented at Court, entertained by aristocratic hosts, examined by scientists, celebrated or satirised by poetasters, and painted by a succession of artists.  He learned to skate and play chess, he developed a liking for theatre, he acquired such