ANDERSEN, Johannes “Myths and Legends of the Polynesians” [Harrap, 1928]

ANDERSEN, Johannes C. Myths and Legends of the Polynesians.

London: George G. Harrap & Company Ltd., 1928. First edition. 8.75" x 5.25". 512pp with sixteen color plates by Richard Wallwork plus numerous half-tone plates and in-text illustrations. Publisher’s decorative blue cloth, gilt-lettered spine and upper board, with elaborate Polynesian-inspired stamped design in blue and green; top edge tinted (but faded). Light edge wear and minor rubbing to boards, small marks to cloth, inner hinges sound, text block clean with light, even toning, plates bright and intact. Owner's name/location written neatly on half title. Very Good.

Andersen’s comprehensive synthesis of Polynesian myth cycles, drawing on Māori, Hawaiian, Tahitian, and broader Pacific traditions, and notable for preserving narrative variants and cultural context rather than retelling the material in a purely literary mode; an important early 20th-century work at the intersection of folklore, anthropology, and comparative mythology.