FESTETICS DE TOLNA, Rodolphe, comte de - Lot 53

FESTETICS DE TOLNA, Rodolphe, comte de Among the Cannibals. Eight years of cruising in the Pacific Ocean on board the yacht 'Le Tolna'. Paris, Plon bookstore, 1903. In-4 (278 x 187 mm) of 2 ff.n.ch., IV, 401 pp. 2 large folding maps. Black half-chagrin, spine gilt, original cover with spine preserved (J. Ardouin). First edition. Rodolphe comte de Festetics de Tolna (1865-1933) was the heir of a Hungarian aristocratic family whose parents lived in Paris. He spent the first part of his life in the French capital where he led a very social life as a lieutenant in the Austrian Imperial Guard. It is in this context that he met in 1889, a rich American heiress Eila Butterworth Haggin (1873-1936) who came to study in the French capital. He married her three years later in New York and the couple quickly decided to prepare a crossing of the Pacific Ocean .... In October 1898, the couple separated. Eila returned to the United States. Rodolphe continued the adventure which ended on February 11, 1900 on the island of Minicoy in the Maldives. Two books remain from this odyssey: "Chez les cannibales. Huit ans de croisière dans le pacifique à bord du yacht le Tolna" and "Vers l'écueil de Minicoy" and 1,600 objects given to the National Museum in Budapest. Richly illustrated with more than 200 reproductions of photographs taken during this expedition, the book is full of details on the life of the people encountered. The two maps show the islands of Vanikoro, the other one with the route taken for this trip. Very nice copy.