BLUE ANGELS and WHALES by ROBERT GIBBINGS ~ 1947 Colored Woodblock Art ~ TAHITI

Description

BLUE ANGELS
AND WHALES
A RECORD OF
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
BELOW AND ABOVE WATER
BY
ROBERT GIBBINGS
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR
THE TRAVEL BOOK CLUB
121 CHARING CROSS ROAD . LONDON W.C.2
First printed as a Pelican Special  by Penguin Books 1938
Second edition, revised, enlarged, 1946
This edition 1947
Hardbound in Near Fine condition with Near Fine Dust Jacket, 114 pages includes CONTENTS, BIBLIOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATIONS too numerous to count, POSTSCRIPT, and BIBLIOGRAPHY,  measures approximately 5 ¾” x 8 ¾”.
The jacket is printed on light turquoise stock with blue ink, featuring an Angel Fish (aka Morrish Idol) on the cover.  There is light wear to the edges, mostly noted at the corners and ends of the spine.  It is otherwise, whole and complete, free of any significant damage.  Due to the delicateness of the jacket, it is rare to fine one still accompanying the book.  It has been placed in an Archival Quality clear Mylar jacket cover to help retain its perfection.
The boards are covered in bright turquoise cloth with titles in brown on the spine. There are a couple slight color blemishes on the front board and a light bump to the  upper points.  Otherwise the surfaces and clean, completely flat, straight and free of fading or edge wear..
The interior is clean, firmly bound with modest age toning.  There is a previous owner name rubber stamped  in the upper corner of the fly page, but no further ownership marks, no creases or tears.   Generally, reprinted editions are not thought to be as desirable as 1st editions, however, unique to this particular Travel Book Club printing is the presentation of 19 of Mr. Gibbings reef plates in blue-green ink; a feature that actually makes it far more outstanding that the original edition.
Robert Gibbings, noted Irish born author and woodcut illustrator, became most known in the Pacific region for his achievements in  OVER THE REEFS and IORANA.  An accomplished writer with a unique gift for capturing the reality and the mystery of his subjects, Mr. Gibbings while on location in Tahiti discovered a world quite unknown to most of his established audience in the UK and America.  At a time when underwater photography was unheard of and prior to the introduction of scuba diving, when most of the educated public envisioned undersea life as a trout, bass or salmon, the Author discovered the beauty of the reef.
Reproducing with the use of only the crudest of tools, Mr. Gibbings succeeds in recreating this remarkable undersea world within the medium of black and white wood engraving.  BLUE ANGELS & WHALES is his guided tour through this realm of discovery that begins in Tahiti, continues on to Bermuda and many of the tropical locations of the world.  Each illustration is in itself a masterpiece, in a book with illustrations too numerous to count.  The Travel Book Club edition, by presenting 19 of the wood engravings in a lovely marine color has truly produced an outstanding and unrivaled collection piece.
We invite you to visit our eBay Shop for more Island Favorites.  Our door is always open.
E Komo Mai
(Welcome)
Mandarin Books Hawaii
The design & text portion of this listing is the I.P. (Intellectual Property) of Mandarin Books Hawaii, protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. Section 512 ©(3)(A) and enforced by the eBay Customer Service Trading Community.