New Picture Books

On The Pacific

Coloured picture books on the Pacific Islands appear on the market with almost monotonous regularity these days, which proves there is a demand for them particularly from tourists.

Three of the latest are Tahiti and its Islands, which appears to have been produced under the auspices of the Tahiti Tourist Development Board, and Couleurs de Tahiti/ Tahiti in Colour by James Siers.

The first-named book uses material that appeared in a French-language publication, Tahiti et Ses lies, re viewed in these pages a couple of years ago. The one by Siers contains parallel texts in English and French.

It is doubtful whether anyone ever reads the text of these books; so the pictures are all that really count, and a great deal here depends on the quality of reproduction.

In the present examples, the re productions in Tahiti and its Islands more frequently catch the fairy-land atmosphere that is so frequently a feature of the Eastern Polynesian scene. In Siers’ book there is a blackness about many of the pictures which is not at all like what the

eye really sees.-

RL.

(Tahiti And Its Islands. Published

by Les Editions du Pacifique, Paris. Price not available. COULEURS DE TAHITI/ TAHITI in COLOUR, By James Siers.

A. H. and A. W. Reed, Wellington),