F and W Wright - New Zealand - 1908

First edition and printing of this wonderfully illustrated book, with 75 colour plates and folding maps. A fascinating travel classic book in original cloth binding. The book is wonderfully illustrated with unfolded maps in colour at the back and 75 striking full-page colour plates, with captions on tissue guards, by F. and W. Wright (Frank and Walter Wright taught and exhibited at Auckland’s Victoria Arcade School of Art in the late 1880s, alongside Robert Atkinson, Charles Blomfield, E. W. Payton, Kennett Watkins, Louis John Steele, and G. C. Goldie). This book is a well-presented mixture of descriptive and historical material. There is an appendix and 7 chapters as described by William Reeves. Published by Adam and Charles Black, London 1908. Publisher’s original brown cloth, decorated with Maori and Tiki designs, with gilt lettering on the upper cover and spine. Top page edges gilded. Book dimensions: 23.5 x 17.5 x 4.5 cm and page count: 241 including index. Condition The book is beautifully designed and illustrated. Firmly and well bound. Exterior covers in good shape, with minor wear at the corners, edges and head and tail of the spine. Interiorly the book is in very good condition. Nice old inscription dated 1925 on the first free endpaper. Pages are clean, with some light foxing to the free end papers and in the margin of some pages. Text is crisp. The attractive illustrations make this a truly beautiful title (please see images).