Birthplace Of The Winds by Ted Bank lands on the shelves of my shop.
Robert Hale, 1957, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Black & White Drawings; Maps;
FROM THE COVER: YOUNG TED BANK returned to the windswept, sea-circled island chain of the Aleutians, where he had been stationed during the war, to explore. He wanted to investigate the ancient buried caves and to study plant life, to discover what uses the Aleuts had made of plants in earlier days and what nutritive value such plants might have in case of shipwreck or plane crash.
Important as were his discoveries in the botanical field, he made others which will be even more interesting to the reader. One of the highlights of his story is the exciting discovery of thousand-year-old mummies in the burial caves only partially explored by Hrdlicka in an earlier expedition. But he also became immensely sympathetic to the Aleut people, studied their language, and made friends with them. When they came to trust him they had in the past grown wary of white men they told him their legends and described their ancient way of life. Theirs is a vanishing civilization; the Aleut population has dropped from about twenty thousand in 1741 to fewer than a thousand today. Decimated by the cruelty and greed of the Russians in the eighteenth century, ravaged by disease, and with their problems largely ignored by the American Government, few Aleuts will be alive to tell their story to future generations of anthropologists. Mr. Banks account of their life and culture, today and yesterday, may well prove unique.
Photographs, drawings and maps add further interest to a fresh and fascinating story of science and adventure.
Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded with a short, closed, tear to the head of the upper panel with further nicks, chips and fraying to the spine ends. Price Clipped. Pages lightly age-tanned.
Blue boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. [XIV] 274 pages. 8¾” x 5¾”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!
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