Over the Reefs

The River Books

by Robert Gibbings

"This book is filled with the sounds. scents and sights- and the human beings- of the South Seas. Robert Gibbings evokes the islands with a beauty and a clarity that make the reader as intimate with their life as he himself is." (from the flyleaf)
A travelogue, filled with the authors prodigious woodcuts.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Robert Gibbings was an Irish artist and author who was most noted for his work as a wood engraver and sculptor, and for his books on travel and natural history.

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best described as a charming book about Robert Gibbings time spent in the South Sea islands. First published in 1948, although this Travel Book Club edition is 1950.

Sadly, my copy has no dust jacket, and this is one of the very few times I have been unable to find a picture of the correct cover for this edition. I also picked up a JM Dent edition (looks to be a first ed) in nice condition with a dust jacket, but more importantly, it has a great map of Gibbings' travels, which the TBC edition lacks. Perhaps more importantly, both editions are illustrated with many of the authors wood-cut prints. These are all very good, and cover a range from small pictures of objects of interest to full half page scenery images.

The blurb says that shortly after the end of the war Irishman Robert Gibbings decided to make use of his freedom to travel, and spent 18 months in the Polynesian islands. Setting out from New Zealand, we join him partway into his voyage after he leaves Fiji, as he arrives in Tonga. It is unclear why Fiji doesn't feature in this book, as he discusses New Zealand a few times in the narrative when relevant topics are brought up.

Tonga, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Tahiti are all covered in some depth, with Gibbings spending several months in most of these locations. He describes in detail the people he meets, and the circumstances of those meetings, the living arrangement, the cultural effects or his visit (by which I mean the ways he was welcomed and became a part of those communities for the duration of his stay, the expectations placed on him, and the responsibilities that others took for him.

This book demonstrates the Polynesian islands at their best - the high levels of hospitality, the willingness to bring a stranger into their communities, sharing their way of live with him. Whether it is the rose-tinted glasses of Gibbings, or a true representation of his experiences, there are no negatives portrayed (that I can recall, as I write this review).

This was an easy and enjoyable read, and the only minor negative is there is some repetition from one island to the next. On a positive, Gibbings gets to many of the smaller islands in his travels, which I think is probably quite rare - for example while at the Cook Islands, he visits not only Rarotonga and Aitutaki, but also Mangaia, Manihiki and Penrhyn. I expect this is fairly rare with European visitors.

Hard to rate this. Probably 3.5 stars, but rounded down as it wasn't as good a read as some of the other 4 star books I have read lately.

3 Stars.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful memoir of a keen observer. I would have loved to have met or traveled with Gibbings. His block prints are extraordinary... I spent so much time looking at them, it took me a month to finish this book.

[Rick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the flyleaf says, an intimate look at the South Seas of the 1940s. Gibbings own woodcuts adorn this travelogue, and it was pure armchair traveling pleasure to drift through the islands with him.