The Art of the Maasai: 300 Newly Discovered Objects and Works of Art

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. First edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Very good. 160pp. Small quarto [26 cm] Rust-colored cloth over boards. In the pictorial dust jacket, with gentle scratching to the surface, and a blemish to the veneer of the rear panel (1/2 inch wide by 3 inches tall). A book which presents for the first time 300 extraordinary ceremonial artifacts- discovered by Gillies Turle and never before seen outside the villages to which they belong. Turle highlights the significance of these objects- symbols of Maasai spiritual life used by the tribe's leader, the laibon, in ceremonies of healing, marriage, circumcision, admission into elderhood, in addition to other important occasions.