An excellent painter and draftsman of the first category ethnographer, Miguel Covarrubias discovered Bali in the 1930s. Accompanied by his wife, he resided for two years on the island and later published this extraordinary book, unique, on the one hand, hand that provides on all aspects of Balinese life and culture and, on the other hand, for its magnificent illustrations, which faithfully reflect a world of paradisiacal beauty. The island of Bali, by Miguel Covarrubias, is an almost legendary book on this beautiful island of the ancient Dutch East Indies. This book, originally written in English and first published in New York in 1937, remains for many the most authoritative work on the luminous island of Bali and its fascinating settlers. It is a very pleasant and ductile text that includes in its captivating development the history, geography, social structure of Bali, its daily life, its customs, its religion and its art. But this book, in addition to providing precious information on all aspects of Bali's life, is in itself an authentic and valuable work of art by Covarrubias' illustrations, which capture with remarkable acumen the spirit of the Balinese and their style of traditional life. This book, in the words of its author, "is not a systematic study of anthropology or the religions of the East; their goal is limited to providing an overview of Balinese life and culture that are intrinsically linked to their deeply rooted beliefs and to their way of living, full of logic and harmony. " When Covarrubias visited Bali, this way of life, this logic and this harmony were already beginning to be threatened by the innovations introduced by the Westerners. The artist Covarrubias also wanted, with this magnificent book, to give testimony of a traditional culture impregnated with beauty. During his residence in Bali in 1932 and 1933, Covarrubias did much of the material that illustrates these pages, and his wife made the photographs that crown this singular work.