Telephone Directory, Territory of Hawaii : Winter 1930

This little publication was purchased for its cover: a ring-binder covered with decorated bark-cloth. Custom-made for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, this copy's cover is unique, but all copies and editions of the directory, issued twice a year, are scarce because out-dated issues had to be surrendered to get the new one. Bark cloth — called "kapa" in Hawaii and "tapa" in other Pacific cultures — is a traditional material made by beating the bast fibers of certain trees and shrubs. Often elaborately decorated with geometrical patterns, it was used, subject to various cultural restrictions, for clothing, household decoration, banners, and other purposes. The Smithsonian's Curator of Ethnology for Oceania is an international authority on the subject and is eager to study the cover, noting: "This very odd but interesting book is quite different from all the other books with bark-cloth samples that the Smithsonian Libraries already has, and is something that I have never seen before. The bark-cloth covering is from Samoa, and it will be interesting to research how and why Samoan cloth was used for a Hawaiian book."