This is an auction for HELL AND PARADISE: THE NORFOLK * BOUNTY * PITCAIRN SAGA by Peter Clarke.

"HELL AND PARADISE is a very readable history of two Pacific Islands, Pitcairn and Norfolk, settled in the 18th century. Clarke's idiosyncratic approach arises more from his experience as an advertising executive than from any formal training as a historian. The result is an engaging, mostly anecdotal account of these two islands, made even more accessible by many illustrations. Pitcairn and Norfolk, two naturally idyllic Islands unihabited for millions of years, began their human history in the 18th century. Pitcairn offered safe harbor for the mutinous crew of the HMS Bounty, and Norfolk an inescapable fortress for Britain's transported convicts. Initially these islands, thousands of miles apart, had nothing to do with each other: the half-Polynesian, half-English descendants of the mutineers on Pitcairn became pious Christians living in a utopian community; the convicts of Norfolk lived in the most horrendous kind of human society bound together only by violence and fear. The historical connection between the two occurred in the 1860s when, after Norfolk's penal colony was abandoned, some of the Pitcairners settled there. Thus for the past hundred years both islands have been inhabited by the descendants of the Bounty. The tale is an intriguing one and Clarke a good storyteller. He relishes a juicy anecdote and has an advertiser's ironic appreciation for both the depravity and virtue of human nature. Overall, an entertaining popular history."

• Kirkus Reviews (US)

Large format hardback 1986.

189 pages.

Illustrations throughout.

Very good condition.

The cost of shipping is $4.95, or $5.95 by tracked mail. If you are on rural delivery and want tracked mail, the shipping cost will be $8.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Wellington following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.