Inhabitants of New Caledonia, Pacific Islanders, Antique Engraving, 1829

About this sheet

Islanders of New Caledonia at work beside a creek, lettered "Inhabitants of New Caledonia." with the dated imprint "London, Published by Thomas Kelly, 17, Paternoster Row 1829." In the center two men shape a canoe drawn up on the bank, one swinging an adze above the hull and the other kneeling at its side. At left a woman sits beneath a palm with two children, with clubs, spears and other implements at her feet, and on the rise behind them stands a cluster of tall conical thatched huts among palms and tropical trees. Two large birds fly over the water, and in the distance canoes sail across a bay toward a line of hills.

New Caledonia was first reached by Europeans when Captain James Cook sighted and named the island in 1774 on his second voyage, landing at Balade on the northeast coast. The tall round houses with their pointed thatched roofs were recorded by Cook's party and became the most recognizable feature of the Kanak villages in European accounts, and they appear here much as the voyage illustrators described them.

Thomas Kelly was one of the most successful London publishers of part works in the early nineteenth century, issuing geographies, histories and collections of voyages in weekly numbers for a wide readership. His plates were engraved by skilled but usually unnamed craftsmen, and no artist or engraver is named on this sheet.

The engraving has clear detail in the figures and the vegetation, with the light on the canoe and the open water drawing the eye through the scene. It is an early and appealing image of the South Pacific for collectors of voyage and Oceania material, and would suit a study or a coastal home.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.