Curtain Raiser to a Colony: Sidelights on the found of New Zealand

Cecil and Cecilia Manson

Hardback with dust jacket in good condition, some fraying. published 1962. 

An engaging look at the some of the people and characters in the story of New Zealand. A London business man who schemed to plant colonies in a country he had never seen. An eccentric young man of French birth who dreamed of setting up his own kingdom.  A humble Maori youth who was lionised as a prince by London society . . . New Zealand's first town planner, who from his London office planned a dream city on the Hutt River, complete with Billingsgate Fish Market and President's Palace.