Lentala Of The South Seas: The Romantic Tale Of A Lost Colony . Morrow, W[Illiam] C[Hambers] Adventure Fiction,Edwardian Fiction

Octavo, pp. [1-2] [i-ii] iii-v [vi] 1-278 [279-280: blank] [note: first and last leaves are blanks], seven inserted plates with color illustrations by Maynard Dixon, original decorated gray cloth front and spine panels stamped in green and black with small illustration of Lentala affixed to the front cover. First edition. Adventure novel; a shipload of colonists are wrecked on an unknown South Sea island. Lentala, one of the islanders, is of mixed blood (her father was an Englishman, apparently one of several marooned earlier on the island). Eventually she is successful in seizing control and becomes queen of the island. The story "is enigmatic in that neither the islanders nor the island is ever identified . This must be regarded as one of the most noteworthy novels of the period, though it does not adhere strictly to the conventions of the lost race motif." - Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 586. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, pp. 161-62. Reginald 10439. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978). Smith, American Fiction, 1901-1925 M-1044. Lone Mountain College Libraries stamps on top and bottom page edges (no other library marks), private owner's bookplate affixed to the front paste-down. A very good copy. (#173887)