GORDON CUMMING, Constance Fredereka.

At home in Fiji.

Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood & Sons, 1881. 2 vols, 8vo (210 x 150 mm), pp. viii, [ii], 293, [1, blank], [24, advertisements]; vi, [ii], 324, [4, advertisements], with seven plates and a folding map; original cream pictorial cloth, lightly soiled but a very good copy. First edition. “Eka” Gordon Cumming ‘was the perfect candidate for a life of leisurely travel. She was of a noble and wealthy Scottish family, so she had the means. As a spinster with 14 brothers and sisters and 50 cousins scattered around the world she had the opportunity, and with sound health and few responsibilities (her parents died in her youth), she had the freedom. Once she began travelling (and writing), it became difficult to stop . . . . [Her] globe-trotting took on the air of a series of rather far-flung social calls. After a year’s tour in India she progressed to Ceylon: the parish priest at home in Scotland had recently been appointed bishop of Colombo. The next expedition was to Fiji. Fiji had just (in 1874) been presented to Queen Victoria by its chiefs, and “Eka” was invited by its first governor, Lord Stanmore, and his lady, to accompany them on their inaugural posting. The trip also involved a few months’ sojourn at Sydney. Whilst in Fiji she met the bishop of Samoa, who was engaged in a tour on his diocese on board a French man-of-war, and she gladly accepted his invitation to accompany him to the South Sea Islands . . . ’ (Robinson).Robinson, Wayward women p. 93. Ferguson (8859a, 8860) records the second and fourth editions only.

• GBP 475.00 > autres monnaies
• Commande nro.: T1719

• libraire: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)