The Long White Cloud - Ao Tea Roa

Horace Marshall & Son, London, 1898. First edition. Brown decorative cloth with darkened spine. Bumping and rubbing to corners and spine ends. Some minor soiling. Internal hinges are cracked but binding is holding well. No inscriptions. Rough cut page edges are darkened. Occasional minor foxing. 430pp with illustrations and maps. The 2 fold-out maps are in good condition.

There are many historical works on New Zealand, but The Long White Cloud is still regarded as the best. It owes its reputation to its comprehensive scope, for its author viewed history as the record of the whole life of a people, not merely political and military, but including its economic, social and cutural ideas and activities ,and its ethnological and physical background. It is also magnificently readable and holds attention by its clarity, wit, liveliness and gift for characterisation.