HENDERSON, George Macdonald. The Antecedents and Early Life of Valentine Savage, known as Taina. Wellington, The Wingfield Press, 1948.
FIRST EDITION (250 x 190 mm) pp. 187. With engravings specially cut in wood by E Mervyn Taylor. Bound in rust cloth with title in black along spine. DJ lacking. Boards slightly warped. Overall GOOD condition.
"About nine years ago I was presented spontaneously by Mr. Valentine (Taina) Savage with a manuscript of his memoirs, including those of his father, Benjamin, an Englishman of good descent from America, who deserted from a whaling ship a hundred years ago and married a Maori wife. The first result of this match was Taina Savage, the half-caste.
He and his mentor, Rangi-ipaia, were of high rank in the Maori standard. HIs mother was chief of her tribe, and passed her standing on to him. From these two Taina learned the knowledge proper for a rangatira.
At ninety-eight years of age, Taina remembered with the utmost accuracy the words of sons and proverbs he had learned in childhood and knew the names of all the members of his tribe, Te Whanau-a-te-Hara-Waka, so that he could tell what claims they had to tribal lands and rights. This type of chief is rapidly dying out - perhaps has already done so."--G.M. Henderson
SHIPS FROM CAMBRIDGE, U.K. MAY AFFECT SHIPPING PRICE.