Missionary Records. Sandwich Islands.
Year: 1839
Edition: First edition
Publisher: London; The Religious Tract Society
Category: Americas
Printed by John Hill, Black Horse Court, Fleet Street. Contemporary binding of 3/4 calf over marbled boards, 12mo, half title, title, pp. xii, (1), 1 (map), 356. Complete with the map of the Sandwich Islands. One table within the text. The spine divided into five compartments by four raised bands, gilt, with the titles in the second and fourth compartments.
The binding rubbed and the corners bumped. A handwritten remark on the front pastedown, a stamp on the second ffep and a different stamp on the title page. No other library marks. The first page of the main text with some offsetting from the map and some foxing, the rest of the text very clean. Page 179 misnumbered 779.
An often overlooked, yet important book on Hawaii, describing effects of the first intercourse between white men and natives, description of the geographical and physical pecularities of Hawaii and the other islands, physical character and number of the islanders, natural history, discovery of the island by James Cook, impressions produced by the event on the minds of Captain Cook and his companians, the arrival of the king of the islands and his visit to captain Cook’s ship, the death of Cook and subsequent intercourse between the natives and foreigners. The start of the Christening of the island population, the arrival of the first missionaries from America, the structure of the goverment of the islands, description of the gods worshipped by the natives, former island wars, arms and weapons, establishment of normal schools, the first newspaper in the Sandwich Islands, etc., etc.
A rare, interesting and important book with only one auction record in ABPC (Swann, 1979) and another one in RBH.
Not in Sabin.
Click on a picture to enlarge.
