$1250.00
An original title page from the 1847 copy of The New Zealanders Illustrated. London, Thomas McLean, 1847. This is a stunning decorative and historic piece of NZ art.
The publication contained a number of hand coloured tinted lithographs however this front cover had additional hand colouring .Professionally framed and in excellent condition for its age. A copy of the entire book is in the National Rare Book Collection in Te Papa.
This shows Paratene Maioha, a Chief of Waingaroa, wearing the Parawai or dog's skin robe. The page has the title and author's name decoratively inscribed around the structure of a pataka. On the left are the palisades of a pa, on the right a carved figure. Below the pataka are a standing Maori woman, a reclining man, two pigs, a food-bowl and the carved stern of a canoe. The man and woman are in full Maori costume with cloaks, feather ornaments and a tiki round the woman's neck. The background scene appears to be a detail from Angas' lithograph of Te Heuheu's pa at Lake Taupo.
George French Angas (1822-1886) visited New Zealand for six months in 1844. Fascinated by the Maori and their way of life, he travelled throughout the North Island recording people, places, and events, and his portraits of important chiefs form the heart of The New Zealanders Illustrated, originally issued in ten parts during 1846-1847, and now one of New Zealand's most valuable rare books. Later he published similar works from South Australia and South Africa before returning to London in 1860.
Overall frame measures 520 mm x 608 mm