Children's book

Title: Prince Leeboo of the Pelew Islands

Producer: Belch, William

Date: 1820-1824

Accession number: 59.100

Place of collection: 1 Staverton Row, Newington Butts, London [Southwark]

Material: paper

Measurements: whole: 160 x 100 mm

This illustrated children's book tells the story of Prince Lee Boo who voyaged to London from the Palau Islands in 1784. He sailed with Henry Wilson, captain of 'The Antelope', an East India Company ship which was wrecked near the Islands. The islanders helped the crew to rebuild their ship. King Abba Thule asked them to take his son Lee Boo to be educated in England. Londoners were keen to meet someone from such an exotic background. Sadly, six months after his arrival, Lee Boo died of smallpox aged only 20. These two images show how Lee Boo was made to fit the myth of the 'noble savage', someone both more primitive and more innocent than 'civilised' Europeans.