Author(s): Father C. Servant

Te Ao Maori History, Society & Culture | Secondhand

Secondhand.

"The rarity of an unprejudiced account of the manners and customs of the Maoris in the period of initial European contact emphasises the importance of Father Servant's manuscript, presented for the first time in its entirety. An honest and accurate observer, and with remarkably little European or Christian bias, this Marist missionary has recorded the life, customs and beliefs of the Maoris he encountered during his four years in the Hokianga. Isolated in a French Catholic Mission station with little contact with other Europeans, Father Servant was able to devote himself entirely to the Maori people and communicate them in their own language. Father Servant's manuscript, discovered by Mr D.R. Simmons in the Marist Archives in Rome, has been translated by Dr. J. Glasgow, formerly of Auckland University and edited by Mr. Simmons, himself an experienced ethnologist. A foreword and notes explain the value of the manuscript as a document which will fascinate ethnologist, anthropologist and layman alike"--Jacket.

1973 first edition hardback. VG, light fading and old label mark to dj. Some water stains to the photograph page edges.