Anthropology

NOTES ON THE PORO IN LIBERIA and MASKS AS AGENTS OF SOCIAL CONTROL IN NORTHEAST LIBERIA.
by George W. Harley
(Hardcover)
Ethnos Publications, 2001

These two seminal studies by Dr. George Way Harley are the basis of our present day knowledge of the Poro men's secret society of West Africa and of masks and masking traditions in Liberia. Harley, a physician, traveled to Liberia from Durham, N.C., in 1926, cutting his way through the bush when there were no roads. He established a clinic at Ganta in Mano country near the Guinea border, and ministered to the needs of the people in the region for over three decades. Because of the trust placed in him by Poro secret society initiates, and through his anthropological training at Harvard, he slowly accumulated an immense knowledge and deep insight into the otherwise impenetrable secrets of the Poro.

Nearly impossible to find in their original, these classic works are presented together in this facsimile reprint. The two papers have been bound together… Read More

147 pages with frontispiece, tables, plates, illustrations and bibliography. Quarto (10 3/4" x 8 1/2") issued in wrappers. Prologue by Carlos Zolla. Limited to 1000 copies. First edition.This book, Water in the Cosmovision of Indigenous Peoples in Mexico, is a photographic and documentary testimony of the relationship between this important sector of our society and the vital liquid; it is a recognition of their ancestral practices and techniques to rationally use and protect this essential resource. This work represents an important contribution to the diffusion of the different cultures of water in our country. With this, the deep roots of Mexicanness are also strengthened.Condition:Light soiling to wrappers else a very good to fine copy.

342+ix with fold out map. Folio (13" x 8 1/4") issued in original wrappers. First edition.There is an abundance of documentation concerning the history of indigenous populations of Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. These documents were constructed from information about the groups with whom the Spaniards had the most contact and focus on the life and governance of these groups. In comparison, relatively little is known of the hunters and gatherers that for most of the colonial period occupied a marginal position relative to the central political scheme. These peoples, located in the arid part of America, were relegated to colonization by religious missionary orders. The Spanish colonization machine with its array of bureaucrats and administrators was first established in the Mesoamerican region because of its geo-political importance as a central area for decision-making and development of the colonial society. What is commonly known as the Aztec Empire consisted of 38 provinces which paid… Read More

174 pages. Folio. (13" x 9 1/4") bound in half pebbled cloth with marbled boards. Second edition limited to 200 copies of which this is number 156.Lacks the Aqui comienza el vocabulario en la lengua castellana y michoacanaWhen which was continuous paginagination.The Franciscans arrived in Michoacan in 1525, they found a new challenge, the language of the natives of the region, whom they came to call Tarascans was different from other native languages of New Spain. Maturino Gilberti, a Franciscan friar whose skills in the Tarascan language exceeded those of their peers. When his works were printed it was the first attempt of a systematic analysis of the language, and his vocabulary is still the best known Tarascan dictionary. Prior to his arrival in the new world, very little is know, it is thought that he may have been born in 1498. but it could have been in 1507 or 8 in the city of Poitiers, France. He studied arts and theology at the University of Toulouse and came to New Spain in 1531, shortly… Read More

Boston: W. G. Corthell (Rand Avery & Co.), 1880. Illustrated by Double port tissue frontis, one music notation and 9 b&w plates. First edition. Original decorated green cloth with gilt stamped spine, floral endpapers. 12mo. pp. 252, [2] blank. Very Good. Cap and corner wear, slight cock. Intriguing Baptist Missionary work of Justus Hatch Vinton (1806-58) and Calista Holman Vinton (1807-64) among the Karen People in Burmah. Laid in is a crumpled period marking ribbon and folded (22.5x13cm) broadside: Cutler, Rev. Theo. L. "Happy New Year!", No. 13. New York: National Temperance Society. Scarce..

Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1868. Book. Very Good+. Hardcover. First Edition, First Printing.. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1868. First Edition, First Printing. Very Good+/no dust jacket . First Edition, complete with errata slip. Clean blue boards with gold decoration and lettering on cover, gold lettering on spine. Slight darkening to spine. Small spots of wear-through to cloth at spine ends. Binding is tight and square, no cracking. Pages and edges are clean, with gilt top edges. Clean chocolate brown endpapers; no names, writing or bookplates. Frontispiece "Chronological Chart of still existing early contemporary architectural testimony" with clean tissue guard. Preface by the author, followed by errata slip. 512 pages with index + 3 page promotion of same author's book, "Life and Work at The Great Pyramid.".

London: Methuen & Co., LTD, 1911. SCARCE, Near Fine, end pages toning. Pp. xiv, 241.. First Edition. Cloth. Near Fine/No Jacket, As Issued. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.

New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1928. Boas' classic treatise on race and culture, RARE in the original 1928 First Edition and in collectible condition. 236pp. + 10 pp references. Very Good in the original black cloth with paper labels front board and spine, spine label a bit darkened and a trifle rubbed, cloth a few small rubs, contents are clean, tight, and unmarked. . First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

323 pp. Introduced and edited by Garrick A. Bailey

NEW ~ Cayapa language in Ecuador. First edition in two volumes: 254 pp.; 302 pp. Near Fine. Alla stamp on front endpaper. No ISBN. En espanol. 3.5 lbs. Weight may result in an increase to international shipping charges.

I. Étude linguistique, précédée d'une notice ethnographique. Thèse présentée à la Faculté des Lettres de l'Université de Copenhague. xx+311 pp. II. Textes (contes et chansons) - Vocabulaire technique - Index verborum. 212 pp. Librairie ancienne Édouard Champion, Paris, 1925-1926.
--- B&W illustrations in the text. Uncut copy.

[5 of 6]+132 leaves with several armorial engravings. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in half leather with four raised spine bands with black label to spine in gilt lettering over marbled boards. (Medina, Mexico 594; Palau 44870 ("actualmente rarísima"); Sabin 10953) First edition. Horacio Carochi (1586-1666) was a Jesuit priest and grammarian who was born in Florence and died in Mexico. He is known for his grammar of the Classical Nahuatl language. He went to Rome where he entered the Society of Jesus. From Rome he went to the New World, arriving in New Spain (now Mexico). There he dedicated himself to the study of the indigenous languages and became proficient in Otomi and then in Nahuatl. He was a friend of the Bishop and later Viceroy of New Spain, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, as is documented by surviving letters written by Carochi to the bishop. Carochi had an acute understanding of the Nahuatl language and was the first grammarian to understand and propose a consistent transcription of two… Read More

Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons Limited, 1955. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Good+. Cloth in DJ; First Edition; 149pp; Minor staining to DJ, previous owner's name to FFEP, boards square, clean & bright, pages slightly age-toned, text unmarked, binding is tight, VG/Good+ condition. Scarce vintage monograph on Manx phonology. University of Edinburgh Linguistic Survey of Scotland Monographs No. 2.

London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1961. First edition, stated. HUMANISM AND EVOLUTION--SIGNED FIRST EDITION COLLECTION OF ESSAYS BY 20TH CENTURY LUMINARIES ASSEMBLED BY JULIAN HUXLEY. 9 1/2 inches tall hardcover, black cloth binding with publisher's gilt logo to cover, gilt title to spine, decorative endpapers, signed on title page, "Julian Huxley/ Cleveland/ May 10, 1962", 432 pp. Faint water stain bottom edge of endpapers, otherwise very good, no dust jacket, in archival mylar cover. FROM PREFACE: "This book is an attempt to present Humanism as a comprehensive system of ideas. It is no sudden venture, but the natural outcome of a long process of gestation and development, begun more than half a century ago in an attempt to reconcile or integrate various aspects of my life- my biological training, my twin loves of nature and poetry, my wrestlings with the problems of morality and belief, and continued in the effort to extend the concept of evolution over the widest possible range of phenomena. The… Read More

Smith, Lillian. Strange Fruit. Reynal & Hitchcock, 1944 1st. Edition, Stated 23rd Printing Thus. BANNED BOOK. USED. VG/VG Dust jacket. Author photo back panel. Now protected in a mylar wrap. About this book: Strange Fruit is a 1944 bestselling novel debut by American author Lillian Smith that dealt with the then-forbidden and controversial theme of interracial romance. The title was originally "Jordan is so Chilly", with Smith later changing the title to Strange Fruit.