Stéphen-Charles Chauvet (1885–1950), commonly known as Dr Stéphen Chauvet, was the author of the first illustrated book about
Easter Island
Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...
, ''L'Île de Pâques et ses mystères,'' published in Paris in 1935.
Chauvet never traveled to Easter Island; he derived much of his information from sources of mixed reliability. However, his book remains an important work, in particular, because of its many
illustrations
An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...
, some of which show objects that no longer exist.
The French version of the book has never been republished. A Spanish translation, "La isla de Pascua y sus misterios" was published in
Santiago, Chile
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...
, in 1946 and reprinted in 1970. An English translation has also been published.
See also
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History of Easter Island
Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, Easter Island, located in the mid-Pacific Ocean, was, for most of its history, one of the most isolated. Its inhabitants, the Rapa Nui, have endured famines, epidemics of disease and ...
References
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External links
''L'île de Pâques et ses mystères''(2004 on-line translation by Ann Altman, with all illustrations and additional biographical material on Chauvet)
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1885 births
1950 deaths
French male writers
20th-century French male writers
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