PEOPLE OF THE VALLEY: LIFE WITH THE CANNIBAL TRIBE IN NEW GUINEA

NY: Random House, 1974. First Edition, first printing. Nice signed presentation from Sargent on the half-title page: "For John: who visited the valley 31 years before I did- the hard way. And who could have, if he hadn't been so busy with the business of survival, written on a single page a story more fascinating than the entire contents of this book. Please accept my warmest personal regards. Wyn." Also, with a one-page typed letter signed from Sargent to John, dated Feb. 14, 1976, laid in. In the letter she discusses finger chopping in New Guinea... "I never quite got used to it....it seemed pitiful to me and useless." She writes that her editor at Random House is a pilot and that he is interested in details of a glider used in the evacuation (of John & others?). "It was a tremendous feat." Also, with an 8- by 10-inch, black & white photograph of finger-chopping (folded) laid in. Finger cutting, or Ikipalin, is a weird practice to display grief and mourning, followed by the Dani (or Ndani) tribe. From the information provided, it seems that "John" was stranded in New Guinea during World War II and was somehow evacuated. In February 1973, the author was expelled from New Guinea by the Indonesian Administration, allegedly for marrying a tribal chief in order to study primitive sexual practices- a move that made worldwide headlines. This book is the author's own vivid account of the months she spent among the Dani, a stone-age people who live in the remote Baliem Valley of Western Irtian, the western half of the island of New Guinea. Living with them, she acquired a very intimate knowledge of their behavior, folk history and religion. She came to know many of them as sharply differentiated individuals and, of course, she was remarkable to them. Sargent believes her expulsion was due more to the fact that she was a white witness to the increasing savagery by police to villagers, than to the official complaints made against her. An interesting copy!. 8vo., cloth & boards in dust jacket; 302 pages. Illustrated.. Very Good (covers nice; contents clean & tight); very minor wear d/j. A nice, interesting copy.