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RARE first book by an influential Italian anthropologist, zoologist, explorer, and plant collector Elio Modigliani (1860-1932), whose first exploration trip, in 1886, was to the island of Nias, of which he explored the southern region (Nias Salatan), traveling among head-hunting tribes. He came back unscathed and wrote his account which became popular, partly because Nias Salatan at the time was a forbidden territory for all foreigners, and Dutch military and naval expeditions had failed time and again to impose colonial rule in this region, populated by head hunters. Modigliani was traveling virtually undefended with the sole company of four Javanese tracker hunters, and he personally clashed with high-ranking members of Nias society, including the renown Siwa Sahilu, who commanded some 2000 warriors out of his village of Hili Simaetano. Yet, Elio Modigliani managed to save his own head and that of his men, and bring back a formidable collection of Nias artifacts for the Ethnographic Museum of Florence. During his exploration, Modigliani was faced on several occasions with highly dangerous situations, and yet he never had to fire a shot nor even to level his weapons against a warrior, and managed to resolve any conflict through a mixture of psychological warfare and empathy. Includes 26 color and b&w full-page photographs and illustrations, 195 b&w figures and 4 maps (2 fold-out). 260x175mm. 724 pages. Half-leather maroon Hardcover. with gilt framing laid in maroon cloth slipcase. Gilt ribbed spine and text block edges gilt. Includes a detached ribbon marker. Slipcase rubbed. Slipcase spine edges cracked and tattered. One of the hinges of first fold-out map partly torn (6cm). Front cover bottom edge peeling. Cover, cover corners and edges, spine, spine edges and hinges rubbed. Pages slightly yellowing. [SUMMARY]: This extremely rare book is in good condition.