RODRIGUEZ, Maximo

Journal de Maximo Rodriguez, premier Européen ayant habité Tahiti (Tautira). 1774-1775.

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Papeete, 1930. Octavo; in the original printed wrappers, faded, but a very good copy. A very scarcebook, printed by the government press in Tahiti. It is a translation from the Spanish of the private journal of Rodriguez, who arrived in Tahiti in 1774 and stayed for over a year. This marks the work out as an important insight into pre-colonial Tahiti, and Rodriguez's journal is the earliest sustained reflection on Tahitian life by a European. It is especially noteworthy as Rodriguez showed a natural aptitude for the Tahitian language.

The journal dates from the last major attempt by the Spanish government to assert their influence in the region. The voyage of the Aquila in 1772 had brought back some Tahitians to be instructed in the Catholic faith, and a second voyage of 1774 was mounted to return them to instruct their compatriots in Christianity. Rodriguez, a marine, travelled as an interpreter on this second voyage. His lengthy stay, so soon after the discovery of the islands, marks him out as one of the most important of the early European visitors, and his account is 'un document unique sur le premier séjour prolongé d'un Européen à Tahiti' (O'Reilly-Reitman).

His diary was presented to the library of the Royal Geographical Society by no less a figure than FitzRoy of the Beagle (who had been given it by Rodriguez's daughter in 1835), but for many years it lay unregarded until it was effectively rediscovered by the Pacific historian Corney. This is the first edition of the French translation of the work, with an attractive Tahitian imprint. It had previously been serialised in successive issues of the Bulletin de la Société des études océaniennes.

This work is of some rarity.
O'Reilly-Reitman, 529.

• AUD 975.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: 702_871

• librero: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)