A narrative of the shipwreck, captivity and sufferings of Horace Holden and Benj. H. Nute : who were cast away in the American ship Mentor, on the Pelew Islands, in the year 1832; and for two years afterwards were subjected to unheard of sufferings among the barbarous inhabitants of Lord North's Island

Boston: Russell, Shattuck, and Co, 1836. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. Fine-. First Edition. Small, slim 8vo: xii,13-133,[1]pp, with wood-engraved frontispiece of tattooing and full-page wood-engraved plate of native canoes approaching the British barque Britannia following p. 114. Original, elaborately embossed brown cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt. End papers spotted, else an excellent, unsophisticated copy. Sabin 32473. Hill 818. Taylor, p. 548. The Mentor sailed from New Bedford under Captain Edward Barnard in 1831. "Holden, a farm boy from New Hampshire, was aboard the whaleship when it was wrecked. Only half the crew survived; they were ultimately captured by natives, who tattooed, starved, and mistreated their prisoners. Holden and his friend Nute were rescued in 1834 by the British barque Britannia . . . This work includes a 'Vocabulary of the language of Lord North's Island' . . . ." (Hill) Melville's description of tattooing in Typee apparently derives from this account. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.