The Tribe That Lost Its Head, Nicholas Monsarrat

The Tribe That Lost Its Head, Monsarrat, Nicholas. Published by Cassell and Company, London, 1956. First Edition.   8vo up to 9½” tall. 538 pages with a foreword by author and a  map of the fictional  Island of Pharamaul.   Green cloth boards with gilt spine titles. Small white mark tail of front board, tiny and light bottom outer edge dust soiling; volume is otherwise in fine condition without marks, tears or folds. Clipped jacket has light edge rubbing and is otherwise fine, protected in mylar.

The Tribe That Lost Its head is one of Monsarrat most famous novels and is drawn on his experience in the diplomatic service; it makes important reference to the colonial experience of Britain in Africa.

“Five hundred miles off the southwest coast of Africa lies the island of Pharamaul, a British Protectorate, governed from Whitehall through a handful of devoted British civilians. In the south of the island lies Port Victoria, dominated by the Governor’s palatial mansion; in the north, a settlement of mud huts shelter a hundred thousand natives; and in dense jungle live the notorious Maula tribe, kept under surveillance by a solitary District Officer and his young wife. When Chief-designate, Dinamaula, returns from his studies in England with a spirited desire to speed the development of his people, political crisis erupts into a ferment of intrigue and violence”.   002513   $45