First edition: an uncommon and impressively detailed account of zoology entirely in the "Samoan Dialect". This was a presentation copy from the author, with his note tipped in 'Presented to Jas. Spicer Esq. With grateful acknowledgements of kind sympathy and generous aid Thos. Powell.'

First edition: an uncommon and impressively detailed account of zoology entirely in the "Samoan Dialect". This was a presentation copy from the author, with his note tipped in 'Presented to Jas. Spicer Esq. With grateful acknowledgements of kind sympathy and generous aid Thos. Powell.'

Thomas Powell worked for the London Missionary Society in the South Seas, and published several books on Samoan themes. His charming Manual of Zoology, printed almost entirely "in the Samoan dialect", covers the gamut of the animal kingdom, from protozoa such as the amoeba ("amipa"), via the invertebrates, to birds and animals. Powell no doubt faced challenges in finding Samoan terms for many of the creatures described - few Samoans at the time of publication can have seen a St. Bernard dog ("maile a perenata paia") or a rhinoceros ("isu-nifoa aferika"), let alone a duck-billed platypus ("gutu-pato"). This copy belonged to Edward Unwin, one of the Unwin Brothers who printed the book, and had previously been presented to the printer James Spicer by the author, to whom the Unwins were related by marriage.