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PEARL
DIVING,
Broome, WA, and
Sponge Diving |
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DIVER'S
LUCK.
A
Story of Pearling Days.
Clarence
Benham.
Tells
of diving for pearl in Torres Strait and the Solomon Islands - and a fight
to the death with a Japanese diver. Hardcover, dustjacket, 258 pages, some
mono prints. First published 1949. reprinted 1951. Now well out of
print.
We
occasionally have a secondhand copy bit not currently. Prices in the order
of $50 with original dust jacket if available, or computer generated jacket
from the original. |
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FORTY
FATHOMS DEEP.
Pearl
Divers and Sea Rovers in Australian Seas.
Ion
L. Idriess.
It
is a wonderful book, superbly written of course, and of great historic
value as it documents the pearl divers of, predominantly, Broome in Western
Australian. A ',must read' for all recreational and commercial divers.
First published 1937, many editions.
Hardcover,
dustjacket, 343 pages, mono plates.
Secondhand.
Now well out of print. We occasionally have a copy. Prices in the order
of $80 with original dust jacket if available, or computer generated jacket
from the original. |
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HEKURA. The
Diving Girl's Island. Fosco Maraini.
THE ISLAND OF THE FISHERWOMEN.
Fosco Maraini.
First published in Great
Britain in 1962, by Hamish Hamilton, London,as Hekura. The Diving Girl's
Island; then in the USA, same year, by Harcourt, Brace & World,
Inc, New York, as The Island of the Fisherwomen.
A wonderful record of the
Ama divers of Japan.
'The habits, religion, and
feasts of this tribe are interesting enough; but it is the girls themselves,
diving almost naked and priding themselves on their strange vocation, who
are the chief subjects.' A sought after diving book. It concerns a study
of the Ama divers who live in about 50 villages n the coastline of Japan
on the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu and smaller offshore islands.
These people live a life distinct from that of the ordinary Japanese by
whom they are considered rather as gipsies are with us. The Ama women do
not dive for pearls, as is commonly believed but for edible seaweed and
shell-fish. They dive without snorkels, without scuba gear, with very little
cloths on, just a kind of g-strings, goggles and the tools they need under
water. The photos are interesting.
The two books are identical
except for the covers; the Americans appear to approve of bare ass as they
say, rather than firm breasts. .
Hardcover, dustjacket, 95
pages, seventy-four mono and colour plates throughout.
Second
hand as these are well out of print. We have copies of The Island of the
Fisherwomen, for $65.00 - all in orginal jackets with protective library
plastic. |
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PORT
OF PEARLS.
Hugh
Edwards
Broome,
on the remote northern coast of Western Australia, is known for its pearling
industry. Its past history weaves a rich tradition of several cultures
including the indigenous Australians, Indonesians, Malays, Japanese and
virtually anyone with a colourful background. But cyclones, the Pacific
war, sharks and the dreaded bends have left many bones in the local graveyard,
and more on the bottom of the sea. There was an appalling death rate among
the early divers where ignorance of the hazards of deep and prolonged diving
resulted in a painful death or at best, incapacitation, through what became
known as decompression sickness. The industry survived; cultured pearls
from Broome are now the best in the world. Hugh Edwards’ historical and
contemporary insights into Broome make a fitting tribute to the resilient
Australian town which is now fast becoming one of the finest tourist destinations
in Australia. An excellent read for all divers.
Softcover,
198 pages, mono and colour plates. $25.95
Sorry,
no longer available from us but may still be in print. |
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THE PEARL KING
Robert Eunson.
Angus & Robrston, Sydney,
London 1956.
Hardcover, dustjacket, 207
pages, mono prints, no index.
From the fly: The man who
wrought this pearly revolution was Mikimoto, a one-time street peddler
of noodles and sea foods who became one of Japan's richest and most beloved
men. 'The Pearl King' is his story. Born on the south coast of Japan, Mikimoto
was acutely aware of the depletion of the once rich pearl fisheries off
the shores of his village. After twelve years of expensive and discouraging
failures, he discovered a way of producing a cultured pearl which so resembled
a natural pearl that only a special X-ray could detect the difference.
He soon was able to offer his pearls at one-quarter of the current price
- a Japanese habit of undercutting which we now know only too well but
which then created a sensation in the pearl markets: soon Mikimoto pearl
salons were opened across the world from Paris to Shanghai. But ‘The Pearl
King' is not merely the story of the birth and growth of a bizarre commercial
enterprise; it is' also the story of the simple little man who discovered
the secret and built up the business. Until he was allmost ninety he entertained
his factory workers with his juggling feats and conjuring magic: at ninety-four
he was still hale and hearty, and still actively managing his business.
We
have second-hand copies, $38.00 - one with original dust jacket, another
with computer generated jacket. |
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THE
PEARL SEEKERS. Norman Bartlett.
This
is the full factual story of the Australasian pearling industry, filled
with drama, adventure and fascinating tales. Murder, rape, theft,
brutality and treachery are found side by side with courage, honesty, and
pioneering vision. A valuable historical record. Hardcover, dust jacket,
312 pages, many mono prints throughout, slight tinge of green. First
published March 1954.
Secondhand.
Now well out of print. We occasionally have a copy. Prices in the order
of $80 with original dust jacket if available, or computer generated jacket
from the original. |
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THE
PRICE OF A PEARL.
Rod
Dickson.
Appropriately
titled, this new release on the pearling vessels and divers of Broome aptly
show how much it costs in terms of lives and vessels to put a pearl around
a ladies neck. "Many of these men were never to see their homlands again
and were buried in lonely, mostly unmarked graves, scattered along the
vst distances of the north-west coast or consigned to the depths of the
sea". Its tells of the divers lost, some under incredible, and ignorant,
circumstances, and the vessels that paid the ultimate price - "more than
a thousand deaths with hundreds of luggers, schooners and ketches wrecked,
all for the price of a pearl." Compelling reading and a great historic
record.
Softcover,
190 pages, mono sketches and maps.
$28.00
Sorry,
no longer available from us but may still be in print. |
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THE SPONGE
DIVERS.
Charmian Clift and George
Johnston.
First published 1956, Collins,
London
The authors are no strangers
to the Australian literary scene of the mid 20th century, having several
books between them, and he a respected journlaist also. They claim the
book to be fiction, based on the island of Kalymnos in Greece, where they
lived for many years, but no doubt there is a HIGH measure of authenticity
in their tales.
Hardcover, dust jacket,
314 pages, no photographs.
Secondhand
as book is well out of print. We come across a copy occasionally. ast sale,
with computer generated dust jacket, was $65.00. |
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THE
WHITE DIVERS OF BROOME.
The
true story of a fatal experiment.
John
Bailey.
This
book could have won the Booker Prize if it were fiction, and not a true
account of bureaucratic stupidity and racism. Brilliantly written, it is
perhaps the most interesting, if not significant, book to be published
on diving in Australia in the last ten years. In 1912, twelve British Royal
Navy- trained divers were sent to the predominantly Asian town of Broome
in Australia’s remote north-west to master the art of pearl-shell diving.
Such an arrangement, urged on by the Commonwealth Government deep in the
grip of a White Australia policy, was not so much as to wrench away
the industry from the industrious Japanese, Malays, Aborigines and others,
but to prove the supremacy of the white race. Not only is this the true
story of those who died to prove an unnecessary point but it gives a wonderful
background to a still fascinating and mysterious town, of a tightly-packed
Asian community of opium dens, food stalls and brothels, “where pearl shell
mattered more than human life”. If you like true history with more than
a touch of the dramatic, this is the book.
Softcover,
301 pages, 26 mono plates. $34.00. Highly Recommended.
Sorry,
no longer available from us but may still be in print. |
3 June 2013 |
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