Kabloona

New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1941. 1st ed. Hardcover. Very Good. illustrations, some in color and all by Poncins, xii, 339p., plus 32 unnumbered pages of black and white photos with captions and some text beneath each photo. Original cloth backed in red leather. Original red slipcase. Lower front edge of box split along one side and the top is split along the short edge. Backstrip scuffed and also rubbed at ends. Internally sound and clean. No jacket. Copy No. 199 of the limited edition of 550 copies. The book is an account of Poncins' thoughts and experiences during 15 months in 1938-1939 spent in the Canadian Arctic, mostly among Inuit people living near King William Land in what is now known as Nunavut. A printed slip, not present here, had been laid in copies of the Limited Edition explaining that the book had not been not signed because Poncins, having "... joined the colors of his country [France], disappeared in the debacle of the French Republic following the fall of Paris." The missing slip promised that, "in the event of his survival and return to the United States, arrangements will be made upon request to his publishers ... for him to sign this numbered copy of KABLOONA." In fact, Poncins had survived and this copy, and an unknown, but apparently modest, number of other copies of the limited edition, were signed by Poncins. The signature ("Gontran de Poncins") appears beneath the statement of limitation on the limitation page. All in all, an appealing SIGNED copy of an important book about the Canadian Arctic and the Inuit people.