Italian edition, dust jacket back and front

In July 1954 Italian photographer Fosco Maraini travelled together with a small film crew to the small Japanese island of Hekura Hegura-jima (舳倉島). The island is famous for female pearl divers (ama divers). Maraini’s warm-hearted diary style text is illustrated by his photographs in this small-format book. The first colour picture section is focused mainly on the daily life on the island, with distant views and general impressions. But Maraini comes closer and closer with his camera, documenting the work of the (usually topless) female pearl divers at, around and under the water. The ama divers became quite a popular subject for photographers. Yoshiyuki Iwase and Yoshinobu Nakamura are probably the best-known of those who photographed the diving girls.

The heart of this book is an 88-page picture section with 72 pages of black and white photographs, followed by 16 pages of colour photographs of the famous diving girls. The underwater black & images are printed with a greenish overlay, enhancing the underwater impression. The book is a wonderful celebration of this lost tradition, the girls no longer diving naked and unaided.

The book was also published in the UK, USA and Germany.
The Italian edition was reprinted in 1961, 1962 & 1964.

L’isola delle pescatrici
Italian edition published by Leonardo da Vinci editrice, Bari, 1960, 1961, 1962 & 1964
The island of the fisherwomen
US edition published by Harcourt, Brace & World Inc., New York, 1962
HEKURA: The Diving Girls’ Island
UK edition published by Hamish Hamilton, London, 1962
Die Insel der Fischermädchen
German edition published by Henry Goverts Verlag, Stuttgart, 1963
Najadernas Ö
Swedish edition published by Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm, 1963
AMA Island – Hegura Island
Japanese edition published by 未来社  Miraisha, 1964

Hard cover with dust jacket

13.5 x 19.3cm

220 pages

Fosco Maraini, Island of the fisherwoman, 1962

US edition, dust jacket back and front

US edition published by Harcourt, Brace & World Inc., New York, 1962

Hard cover with dust jacket

17 x 23.5cm

200 pages

US edition, cover back and front

US edition, front papers

US edition, title pages

Fosco Maraini, HEKUTA: The Diving Girls’ Island, 1962

UK edition, dust jacket back and front

UK edition published by Hamish Hamilton, London, 1962

Hard cover with dust jacket

17.1 x 23.5cm

200 pages

UK edition, cover back and front

UK edition, front papers

UK edition, title pages

Fosco Maraini, Die Insel der Fischermädchen, 1963

German edition, dust jacket back and front

German edition published by Henry Goverts Verlag, Stuttgart, 1963

Hard cover with dust jacket

16.3 x 23.7cm

200 pages

German edition, cover back and front

German edition, front papers

German edition, title pages

Fosco Maraini, Najadernas Ö, 1963

Swedish edition, dust jacket back and front

cover back and front

Fosco Maraini, 海女の島―舳倉島 (AMA Island – Hegura Island), 1964

Japanese edition, dust jacket front and back (with table of content)

Hard cover with dust jacket and publisher’s slip

13.3 x 18.9cm

206 pages

Cover back and front

Publishers slip back and front

Japanese edition 1964, Swedish edition 1963, Italian edition 1960, US edition 1962, UK edition 1962, German edition 1963

Japanese edition 1964, Italian edition 1960, Swedish edition 1963, US edition 1962, UK edition 1962, German edition 1963

4th edition, 1964, dust jacket front

The dust jacket design was changed for the 4th Italian edition published 1964.