BEFORE PARADISE WAS A LEGEND — THE TRUE STORY OF PITCAIRN'S LOST COLONY

Murray, Rev. Thomas Boyles (1798–1860)

Pitcairn: The Island, the people, and the Pastor; with a Short Account of the Mutiny of the Bounty [South Seas Exploration]

London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1853.

THE ISLAND THAT KEPT THE BOUNTY'S SECRET FOR TWO GENERATIONS
Published only three years before the inhabitants of Pitcairn Island were removed to Norfolk Island, this contemporary account preserves the community founded by the surviving mutineers of HMS Bounty and their descendants at the height of its development. Drawing upon official records, private correspondence, and the letters of Pastor George Hunn Nobbs, it remains one of the principal nineteenth-century sources documenting the island's religious, social, and maritime history.

The Community Beyond the Mutiny
Compiled by the Reverend Thomas Boyles Murray while serving as Secretary of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the volume combines the history of the 1789 mutiny with a detailed portrait of daily life on one of the world's most isolated inhabited islands. Beyond recounting the fate of Fletcher Christian and John Adams, it traces the evolution of a fugitive settlement into an organized Christian community under Nobbs' leadership.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Original brown blind-stamped publisher's cloth expertly laid down over a modern green cloth binding, preserving the original spine with its gilt title and ship motif together with the original covers. Renewed pale green endpapers. Octavo; 7.25 inches tall; xiv, 280 pages. Frontispiece portrait of John Adams, folding facsimile of Adams's handwritten prayer, and numerous wood-engraved illustrations and text figures throughout.

PROVENANCE
Early Ownership Record
The front blank bears an early inscription reading 'S. J. Allen / From the Author / 1853,' recording that the volume was received directly from the author at the time of publication. While the handwriting has not been identified, the inscription appears contemporary with the book.

Contemporary Critical Reception
The front flyleaf carries a neatly copied extract from a favorable review published in Blackwood's Magazine (June 1853). Likely entered by the same early owner, the manuscript preserves a contemporary assessment of the work and strengthens the volume's documented early provenance.

The front flyleaf also bears an early manuscript transcription of a favorable contemporary review, identified as Blackwood's Magazine, June 1853, preserving a period reader's response to the work.

CONDITION: Very Good. Expertly rebound using the original publisher's cloth and spine laid down over a modern green cloth binding, producing a sound and attractive copy while preserving the book's original appearance. Binding is tight and square. Interior pages are clean with light, even age-toning and scattered foxing, primarily to the preliminary leaves and occasional margins. An attractive, structurally sound First Edition.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE — Preserving the Bounty Community.
Rather than retelling the famous mutiny alone, Murray assembled official documents, missionary correspondence, naval reports, and private journals to document the community that emerged from it. His work preserves one of the earliest comprehensive accounts of Pitcairn's second generation, when the descendants of the mutineers had established a stable society under British influence.

A Community Before Change.
Issued in 1853, the book captures the island immediately before its population exceeded the limited resources of Pitcairn, prompting the well-known relocation to Norfolk Island in 1856. As such, it records the settlement during its final years as the original Bounty colony.

From History to Legend.
The continuing fascination with the Bounty story—in literature, historical scholarship, and later film adaptations—has ensured lasting interest in contemporary sources such as this volume. For collectors of Pacific exploration, maritime history, and missionary literature, it remains among the principal nineteenth-century accounts of life on Pitcairn.

SCHOLARLY FEATURES
+++ Missionary Perspective — Records the development of a Christian settlement through official SPCK sources and firsthand correspondence.
+++ Maritime Continuity — Bridges the narrative between the original voyage of HMS Bounty and later nineteenth-century visits by Royal Navy and commercial vessels.
+++ Demographic Record — Includes population statistics, births, marriages, and shipping visits valuable to historians and genealogical researchers.

Interpretive Features
+++ The Nobbs Correspondence — Publishes letters and reports from George Hunn Nobbs, whose long ministry shaped the religious and civic life of Pitcairn during its formative decades.
+++ Beyond the Mutiny — Extends the familiar story of the 1789 mutiny by tracing the lives of the surviving mutineers, their descendants, and the evolution of the island community.
+++ Life in Isolation — Documents education, worship, agriculture, family life, visiting ships, and relations with the outside world, creating a remarkably detailed portrait of a remote Pacific settlement.
+++ Illustrated Record — Includes a frontispiece portrait of John Adams, a folding facsimile of his handwritten prayer, and numerous wood-engraved illustrations accompanying the narrative.

GENRES: Pacific Exploration; Maritime History; Missionary History; First Edition.

SUBJECTS: Pitcairn Island, HMS Bounty, Mutiny on the Bounty, Fletcher Christian, John Adams, George Hunn Nobbs, South Pacific, Maritime Exploration, Missionary History, Whaling, Oceania.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Hill 208; Ferguson 12973; O'Reilly-Reitman 4655.

Item #22161

Price: $225.00