Kabloona

New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1941. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. illustrations, some in color and all by Poncins, xi, 339p. plus 32 unnumbered pages of black and white photos with captions and some text beneath each photo. Original cloth backed in red leather. Clear plastic (acetate?) jacket and red card slipcase with a title label on the front panel. 22 cm. The jacket has modest damage at base of backstrip and some general wrinkling. The slipcase is sound with modest soiling and wear including a small heart-shaped waterspot on the back panel. The book is fresh and clean and even has the original unfaded and only minimally worn red ribbon marker. Copy No. 90 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 laid in the book explains that the book is 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 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 on the limitation page is by "Eskimo Mike" de Poncins, Mike being the name by which he was known among the Inuit. All in all, a wonderful copy of an important book about the Canadian Arctic and the Inuit people.