First edition of this important ethnographic work on turn-of-the-20th century Borneo by "the most artistically tattooed man in the world," with some of the earliest photographs of its inhabitants.
Very good plus.
Price: $1,200.00
"I fancy no-one will dispute that, as a substitution for clothes, pervasive tattooing provides a device both attractive and modest."
Major work by the American ethnographer on the Home-Life of the Kayan and Kenyah peoples of Borneo, which for Furness possessed "a charm which [could] not be wholly dispelled even by the skulls hanging from the rafters of their house." Based on a year-long stay with his hosts, the work is full of praise for their courtesy, offers plentiful details on household management and daily customs, and attempts to give a faithful and objective accounting of contemporary religious ritual, tattooing, and of the practice of head-hunting. A Philadelphia native and enthusiastic student of many cultures, Furness's visits to Japan earned him a description as "the most artistically tattooed man in the world" (or, at least, the most artistically tattooed man then seen by reporters at The Oregonian). His photographs and the artifacts acquired on his travels formed much of the early core anthropology and archaeology collections of the University of Pennsylvania; an institution and museum accurately criticized for assorted ethical lapses in this field. THE HOME-LIFE OF BORNEO HEAD-HUNTERS is an invaluable historical document, with photographs which document a way of life under threat from colonialism in various forms – including anthropology – and which do so with as much care, attention, and respect as Furness was then able to offer.
Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott Company, 1902. 9.5'' x 6.5''. Original gilt-stamped red cloth. Top edge gilt. Illustrated with 88 heliotype plates, including frontispiece, "The tattooing of a Kayan married woman." Limited edition of 500 copies. 197, [1] pages. Bookplate mounted to front paste-down, with light offsetting to facing fly leaf. Some fading to gilt; light fraying to cloth at spine ends; minor edgewear and bumping.
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