Post #2634 by woofmutt on Mon, Jun 24, 2002 10:21 AM

I currently have this book out on loan from the library and am considering getting my own copy. The photography of the items is a little stiff but Chris Pfouts writing about the objects is informative and clever (examining an Escapade magazine cover of an "Enchanting Cherokee" posing with a Polynesian prop he writes "The girl may indeed be Cherokee, but palm-frond tikis are not something the Cherokees are widely known for."). It really is a book more for the vintage Hula Girl fan than the Tiki-phile. The Hula section takes up about three fourths of the book but the collection is exceptional. A wide variety of items are shown, from matchbooks to rare end tables (and many of the pictures of book jackets, decals, and photographs are big enough to make good color copies of to frame). The Tiki section has some interesting items but it's mostly made up of common or contemporary ones.

The only drawbacks to the book is the pointless listing of prices for everything (price lists usually are out of date by the time a book goes to press) and of course the $40 price of the book. Don't count on finding it cheaper on eBay, the two auctions I saw started at the book's list price (they went unsold). This also seems like the sort of book which may go out of print. How to talk yourself into it: You couldn't begin a collection of Hula stuff like this for $40.