Omai. First Polynesian Ambassador to England. The True Story of His Voyage There in 1774 with Captain Cook; of How He Was Feted by Fanny Burney, Approved by Samuel Johnson, Entertained by Mrs. Thrale & Lord Sandwich and Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds

San Francisco: The Colt Press, 1940 Book. Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First edition. One of 500 copies. Small quarto. 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches.[4], 115pp. Frontis portrait. Half linen over batik boards, paper spine label. Bookplate on inner cover. Offsetting to front free endpaper (as usual). Edges of cover slightly faded, else a near fine copy. In 1938 Jane Grabhorn, in partnership with W. M. Roth and Jane Swinerton, set up The Colt Press. With the advent of the War the partnership was dissolved and from 1941 all Colt Press books, while designed by Jane, were printed by the Grabhorn Press. We believe this title to be the last published and printed by the "original" Colt Press. The frontispiece portrait of Omai is from the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. "The Polynesian Omai was a great success in London - he seemed to embody Jean Jacques Rousseau's concept of the 'noble savage,' much in vogue at the time of Omai's arrival in England. For two years Omai was the darling of society" (Hill). [Hill, Pacific Voyages, new version: 301]..