Missions, Missionaries, and Mission Imprints
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A note on OCLC
As is now the norm, OCLC counts are tentative, at best, as we recognize that searches using different qualifiers will often turn up different results. Searches are now further complicated by the vast numbers of digital, microfilm, and even print-on-demand copies, which have polluted the database considerably, making it difficult, without numerous phone calls or emails, to determine the actual number of tangible copies. Hence, even though the counts herein have been recently checked, most all should be taken as a measure of approximation.
1. The anchor: with sketches of the lives of Jeremiah Evarts, James Montgomery, and Gregory T. Bedell. Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, [1836].
$200
First edition, 12mo, pp. 72; engraved frontispiece illustration, title-page vignette, 5 illustrations in the text (1 full-page); contemporary quarter calf and blue paper-covered boards, lettered in gilt direct on spine; extremities worn, with boards soiled and scuffed and pages with some staining, but overall good and sound.
A brief illustrated description of anchors and their functions--both literal and metaphorical--followed by an account of the wreck of the packet ship Albion. The "sketches" of Evarts (1781-1831, missionary, reformer and opponent of Native American removal policies), Montgomery (b. 1787, Episcopal minister and first rector of St. Stephen's church in Philadelphia), and Bedell (1791-1834, founder of St. Andrew's, also in Philadelphia), are in fact accounts of their death-bed experiences.
Bloch, 1474.
2. Catalogue of those, who have been educated at the Theological Seminary in Andover. Andover [Mass.]: Flagg and Gould, [1815].
$85
12mo, pp. 12; removed from binding, wrappers lacking; final leaf nearly loose, good.
The school was established as a reaction to the Harvard board appointing a liberal to the Hollis Chair of Divinity. Notable alumni listed include Adoniram Judson, an early foreign missionary who worked in Myanmar; Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the founder of the first permanent School for the Deaf in the US; and Gordon Hall, one of the first two American missionaries of the ABCFM to Bombay.
American Imprints 33867.
3. A dictionary of the Hawaiian language, to which is appended an English-Hawaiian vocabulary and a chronological table of remarkable events. Honolulu: Henry M. Whitney, 1865.
$750
First edition thus, being a second and much expanded version of Andrews' earlier A Vocabulary of Words in the Hawaiian Language, Lahaina, 1836 which is the first dictionary printed in the Pacific; 8vo, pp. xvi, 559; text in double column; full contemporary sheep, worn, and with restoration at the extremities; good and sound.
The Hawaiian press was first established in Honolulu in 1822 and later at Lahaina in 1834 by Lorrin Andrews, a missionary who claimed some experience in printing. In June of 1834 it was voted by the mission that Andrews prepare a vocabulary of the Hawaiian language. He drew upon a manuscript vocabulary of words collected by Elisha Loomis, one of the first colonizers of the islands under Hiram Bingham; and, a manuscript vocabulary of words was "arranged, it is believed, in part by Mr. Ely, at the request of the Mission, and finished by Mr. Bishop. A copy of this was received and transcribed by [Andrews] in the summer of 1829 ... In using this manuscript, the same method was taken as with the vocabulary of Mr. Loomis. New words, new definitions of words before collected, increased the size of the book to a considerable extent" (compiler's Preface to the 1836 edition, reprinted herein). A further revised edition appeared in 1922.
Vancil, p. 8; this edition not in Zaunmuller.
4. Princely gifts and papal treasures. The Franciscan mission to China and its influence on the art of the west 1250 - 1350. San Francisco: Desiderata Press, [1999].
$150
First edition, folio, pp. 239, [1]; illustrated throughout, much in color; fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
Signed by the author on the title page and with a brief autograph note from Lauren Arnold to a professor anticipating her "talk in February."
5. The bridge of the gods: a romance of Indian Oregon. Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1890.
$350
First edition, with McClurg only in the imprint; 8vo, pp. [7], viii-xii, 13-280, [8]; original pictorial brown cloth printed in black; gilt lettering on front cover and spine; corners and spine extremities scuffed, front hinge starting; otherwise, very good.
Frederic Homer Balch (1861-1891) was an Oregon-born writer and "the first Pacific Northwest fiction writer to cast Native Americans as major characters and the first to celebrate the region's geography in a novel." (Oregon Encyclopedia).
The Bridge of the Gods is a semi-autobiographical account of a missionary who explores the indigenous tribes of Northwest Oregon and British Columbia. Balch aimed to showcase a nuanced and sympathetic depiction of the native population of the Columbia River area while also incorporating elements of mythology and magical realism.
This is his only book and it remained in print for more than a century.
Wright III, 250.
6. A vocabulary of the colloquial rendering of the Sacred edict. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1892.
$150
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiii, [3], 217, [1]; contemporary if not original quarter black calf over green cloth-covered boards; spine mostly perished but lettering remains, front joint broken and held by cords; text block is clean and the sewing structure remains sound.
Baller (1852-1922) was a British Protestant missionary to China, and a Chinese linguist and sinologist. "The Sacred Edict, issued by Kangxi, Emperor of China's Qing dynasty in the 17th century, consisted of sixteen maxims, each seven characters long, to instruct the average citizen in the basic principles of Confucian orthodoxy. They were to be publicly posted in every town and village, then read aloud two times each month. Since they were written in terse formal classical Chinese, a local scholar was required to explicate them using the local dialect of the spoken language. This practice continued into the 20th century" (Wikipedia).
7. [Bible in Bengali, Old Testament.] The Old Testament in the Bengali language, translated out of the original Hebrew by the Calcutta Baptist Missionaries with native assistants. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1851.
$650
Second edition, 8vo, pp. [8], 812; text in double column; contemporary paneled calf, black morocco label on cover, spine and extremities rubbed, scattered foxing, otherwise very good. Bookplate of the American Bible Union.
William Yates' version, revised by John Wenger, who had assisted Yates in the Bible of 1845.
Darlow and Moule, Indian Supplement, 163.
8. [Bible in Bengali.] [The New Testament in Bengali, revised]. [Bangalore: The Bible Society of India and Ceylon, 1963].
$75
8vo, pp. [582]; 2 leaves of maps; original black cloth, gilt-lettered spine; presentation slip signed and inscribed by Angus to the Library of the Baptist Missionary Society, on front free endpaper; very good and sound.
Cambridge and the Graduate Theological Union Library only in OCLC.
9. [Bengali.] ...The Psalms of David in Bengali. Translated from the original Hebrew, by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, for the Bible Translation Society, and the American and Foreign Bible Society, 1844.
$325
12mo, pp. [178]; original brown cloth, printed paper spine label; ex-Baptist Mission House Library with usual early 20th-century markings and bookplate to front pastedown; small chip to spine head, else about fine.
10. [Bengali.] The proverbs of Solomon in Bengali. Translated from the original Hebrew, by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries. Calcutta: printed for the Baptist Missionary and the Bible Translation Societies, 1854.
$150
16mo, pp. 55; original cloth-backed blue wrappers, decorative printed paper cover label; some shelf wear, else very good and sound.
11. [Bible in Bengali.] [Title in Bengali] Satika Nutana Dharmmaniyamera prathama khanda, arthat, susamacaracatushtaya o preritadera kriyara bibarana = The four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, annotated in Bengali. Calcutta: printed by G.H. Rouse, at the Baptist Mission Press, for the Baptist Missionary Society, 1878.
$150
Large 8vo, pp. 712; original green gilt-lettered cloth (dampstaining) unadorned spine, all edges red; vermin damage to lower cover bottom edge and lower edge of last two leaves not affecting text; Baptist Mission House Library bookplate to front pastedown.
Not in Darlow & Moule. Oxford only in OCLC.
12. [Bible in Bengali.] [Title in Bengali] Sulemanlikhita Hitopadesa, ibriya bhashahaite bhashanurikrta = The proverbs of Solomon in Bengali. Translated from the original Hebrew by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries. Calcutta: printed for the Bible Translation Society, and the American and Foreign Bible Society, at the Baptist Mission Press, 1847.
$225
Fourth edition, "five thousand copies," 16mo, pp. [56]; original cloth-backed blue wrappers, decorative printed paper cover label (minor damage to top edge); ex-Baptist Mission House Library with usual early 20th-century markings and bookplate inside front cover; very good and sound.
Oxford only in OCLC as of October, 2013; not in Darlow & Moule.
13. [Bible in Bengali.] Musalikhita Adipustaka ebam Yatrapustakera prathama bhaga = Genesis and part of Exodus, in Bengali. Translated from the Hebrew by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries. Calcutta: printed for the Baptist Missionary and the Bible Translation Societies, 1855.
$175
16mo, pp. 204; original dark grey cloth, printed paper spine label; spine faded, else about fine.
Cambridge and Oxford only in OCLC; Darlow & Moule 2092.
14. [Bible in Bengali.] The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in Bengali. Translated from the original Greek by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries with native assistants. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press, for the Bible Translation Society, and the American Bible Union, 1854.
$250
16mo, pp. 465; Darlow & Moule 2087;
bound with: [Pearce, George], Dharmma gita: Isvarera aradhanarthe nutana samgrhita = A new selection of hymns for divine worship. Calcutta: Printed for the Associated Baptist Churches in Bengal, at the Baptist Mission Press, 1846, pp. [297];
together in full black gilt-ruled morocco, gilt spine, all edges marbled; ex-Baptist Missionary Society Mission House Library with usual early 20th-century markings and bookplate on front pastedown; spine scuffed with small losses to leather; some foxing to New Testament title page, else interior about fine.
15. [Bible in Bengali.] Mathilikhita susamacara satika = The Gospel according to Matthew annotated in Bengali. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press, for the Bible Translation Society, 1869.
$150
Slim 8vo, pp. 160; original plum cloth (edges faded and dampstained), upper cover lettered in gilt; small spot of (?) vermin-induced damage to upper cover fore-edge slightly affecting textblock, else very good and sound.
Oxford only in OCLC; not in Darlow & Moule.
16. [Bible in Bengali.] Dharmmapustakera adibhaga, tahara caturtha khanda, arthat, bhabishyadvakya pustakasamuha, ibriya bhashahaite bhashanurikrta = The prophetical books of the Old Testament in Bengali. Translated from the Hebrew by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries, with native assistants. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1844.
$475
8vo, pp. [4], 609-843; original blue cloth (very light discoloration from damp), printed paper spine label; endpapers a bit soiled, else interior fine.
Oxford only in OCLC as of October, 2013. Not found in Darlow & Moule.
17. [Bible in Bengali.] Musalikhita Adipustaka ebam Yatrapustakera prathama bhaga = The book of Genesis and part of Exodus in Bengali. Translated from the Hebrew by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries. Calcutta: printed for the Bible Translation Society, at the Baptist Mission Press, 1842.
$275
Second edition, "5000 copies," 12mo, pp. [182]; original brown cloth, printed paper spine label, about fine.
Not in Darlow & Moule. Five in OCLC, only Wabash and Indiana in the U.S.
18. [Bible in Bengali.] The preceptive and devotional books of the Old Testament comprehending Job, the Psalms of David, and the writings of Solomon, in Bengali. Translated from the Hebrew by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries, with native assistants. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1843.
$450
8vo, pp. [4], 475-606, [2]; original brown cloth, printed paper spine label (text quite rubbed); spine foot cracked, else very good and sound.
OCLC locates 4 copies, Rochester only in the United States. Not found in Darlow & Moule.
19. [Bible in Hawaiian.] Ka Palapala Hemolele a Iehova ko kakou akua o ke Kauoha kahiko a me ke Kauoha hou i unuhiia mailoko mai o na olelo kahiko Paiia no ko Amerika poe hoolaha Baibala. Oahu & Honolulu: Na na misionari i pai, 1843.
$6,500
First octavo edition, and the first one-volume edition of the Bible in Hawaiian. 8vo, pp. 1451, [1]; original full Hawaiian sheep, black morocco label lettered in gilt on spine; vertical crease in spine, small chips at spine ends, the whole moderately scuffed, old Bowdoin accession label at base of spine, upper joint cracked at the top. Contained in a new brown cloth clamshell box.
Ex-Athenian Society of Bowdoin College, with the Society's bookplate, a college "withdrawn" stamp on the front pastedown, and the Soiciety's oval stamp in the upper corner of the title page. According to the bookplate the Bible was presented to the college by Bowdoin alum Rev. Daniel Dole. Dole and his wife arrived in Honolulu as missionaries in 1841. Dole was principal of the Punahou School for the children of missionaries there, and after the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Dole's son Sanford became president of the Republic of Hawaii, and the first governor of the Territory of Hawaii. Sanford's cousin James developed the pineapple industry in Hawaii and the family wielded enormous influence in Hawaiian politics.
According to Forbes, this is the first edition of the first complete Bible in Hawaiian, with the Old and New Testaments together in a single volume. There was an earlier printing of the New Testament only in three 12mo volumes in 1838, followed by the Old Testament two years later. "The text is generally printed in double columns divided by a vertical rule. The Books of Job ... Psalms, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, much of Isaiah, and Jeremiah are in single-column numbered verse form. The New Testament, beginning on page (1130) has is own title page, Ke Kauoha hou a ko kakou haku e ola i Iesu Kristo..." Both Testaments have separate imprints, as issued, the Old Testament bearing the Oahu Mission Press imprint while the title of the New Testament bears a Honolulu imprint. The verso of the Old Testament title contains the imprint "Ka Lua O Ke Pai Ana" ("the second printing"), which refers to the 12mo printing of the entire Old Testament in 1840.
OCLC locates only 9 copies: N.Y. Public, Huntington, Yale, Smithsonian, Harvard, American Philosophical Society, Brigham Young, the National Library of South Africa, and the Bibliotheque nationale). To these we can add the AAS, Hawaiian Historical, the Bishop Museum Library, the National Library of Australia, Punahou School; University of Hawaii, the Mitchell Library in Australia, and the Alexander Turnbull Library in New Zealand. Copies have appeared at auction infrequently, seven in all (according to BookHub), and four of them sold 1918 or earlier. The other three were sold in 2018, 1983, and 1982. Its relative scarcity may be explained by the fact that only 10,000 copies were printed, but three years after publication 9,000 copies were still on hand. In Forbes's words it did "not appear to be a best-seller."
Darlow and Moule 5066; Forbes 1416; Judd 265.
20. [Hindi.] [Title in Hindi] Satya Dharmmasastraka prathama khanda, nija karake, utpattigrantha, arthat, mosilikhita adipustaka, tika sameta = [Genesis, Hindui]. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, 1891.
$150
Edition limited to 2,000 copies, 8vo, pp. [181 interleaved; original brown cloth-backed grey printed boards, edges scuffed and worn, some discoloration from damp; hinges reinforced, interior mostly fine.
Oxford only in OCLC as of October, 2013; not in Darlow & Moule.
21. [Bible in Hindi.] The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the Hindi language. Translated from the Greek by the Calcutta Baptist missionaries, with native assistants. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1848.
$150
8vo, pp. 643; original green cloth, printed paper spine label (browned and partially perished); ex-Baptist Mission House Library with usual 20th-century markings and bookplate on front pastedown, edges and spine a bit scuffed; preliminaries foxed, textblock very good and sound.
Darlow & Moule 5376.
22. [Bible in Hindi.] [Title in Hindi] Dharmmapustakaka antabhaga, arthat, Matti au Marka au Luka au Yohana racita, prabhu yisu khrishtaka susamacara, aura preritomki kriyaomka vrttanta, aura, dharmmopadesa aura bharishya dvakyaki patriyam, jo, yuanani bhashase hindimen gaye haim = The New Testament in Hindi. Calcutta: printed by C.B. Lewis, Baptist Mission Press, 1868.
$200
8vo, pp. 782; original dark grey cloth, printed paper spine label; spine faded, textblock edges foxed, else very good and sound.
Darlow & Moule 5385: "In 1857 J. Parsons, a B.M.S. missionary at Monghyr, commenced a revision of Yates and Leslie's version of the N.T...and in the course of his work received great assistance from J. Christian, a neighbouring planter, who was well versed in vernacular Hindi and its poetical literature."
23. New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: translated out of the original Greek into the Mongolian language, by Edward Stallybrass and William Swan, many years missionaries residing in Siberia; for, and at the expense of, the British and Foreign Bible Society = Biden-u̇ Ejen ba Tonilġaġci Iisus Keristos-un Sine Tistamint kemegci nom anu orosibai. London: printed by William Watts, Crown Court, Temple Bar, 1846.
$950
First edition of the N.T. in Mongolian (the O.T. had been finally completed in 1840), large 8vo, pp. [926]; original black pebble-grain cloth, gilt titling on spine; front joint partially cracked, the binding moderately rubbed; good, the sewing structure sound and the textblock clean.
In Literary or Classical Mongolian, and in Mongolian script with added title page in English. "In 1840 the L. M. S. Mission in Siberia was suppressed by an Imperial Ukase and E. Stallybrass and W. Swan returned to England. They had already made considerable progress in translating the N. T., and in 1843 it was arranged with the L. M. S. that they should complete and revise their version, the B. F. B. S. defraying all necessary charges. The press and type belonging to the Mission at Selenginsk had been sold, but the B. F. B. S. possessed in London a fount of Manchu type which, with certain additions, served to print an edition of 2,000 copies of the N. T. in 1846" (Darlow & Moule).
Manchu is set in perpendicular columns which read from left to right.
Darlow & Moule 6826. Nine in OCLC: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Penn, USC, BL, BnF, the national libraries of Sweden and Spain.
24. [Oriya.] [Title in Oriya] Jagatara tranakartta Prabhu Yisu Khrishtanka Nutana Niyama, adya grika bhasharu adhunika anubada = The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (a new version). Cuttack: Orissa Mission Press, 1927.
$75
First edition, 12mo, pp. 626; original green cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt; minor shelf wear, Baptist Mission House Library bookplate to front pastedown, else very good and sound.
25. [Oriya.] [The Holy Bible in Oriya]. [Cuttack]: Published by the Bible Society of India, Pakistan, and Ceylon in association with the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1952.
$65
8vo, pp. 1070; [bound with, as usual]: The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (in Oriya), Cuttack: Published by the Bible Society of India and Ceylon in association with the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1950, pp. [4], 337; together in original black blind-ruled cloth, gilt-lettered spine, all edges red; ex-Baptist Missionary Society Mission House Library with their contemporary bookplate to front pastedown; very good and sound.
Cambridge only in OCLC as of October, 2013.
26. [Oriya.] The Psalms of David in Oriya. Cuttack: Printed at the Mission Press for the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society, 1882.
$150
12mo, pp. [193]; original green gilt-stamped cloth, unadorned spine, all edges red; minor shelf wear, Baptist Mission House Library bookplate to front pastedown; very good and sound. Reprint edition.
Darlow & Moule 7164.
27. [Bible in Oriya.] [Title in Oriya=] Dharmapustakara antabhaga, arthat, Ambhamanankara tranakartta Prabhu Yisu Krishtankara Nutana Niyama, grika bhasharu bhashantarikrta = [The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in Oriya. Translated from the original Greek]. Cuttack: published by the Bible Translation Society, (Auxiliary of the Baptist Missionary Society), 1911.
$100
8vo, pp. 300; original black cloth (some dampstaining), upper cover lettered in gilt, contemporary manuscript spine label; minor shelf wear, back pastedown a bit damaged from previously removed label, else interior very good and sound.
Oxford only in OCLC.
28. [Bible in Persian.] The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, translated from the original Greek into Persian, at Sheeraz ... with the assistance of Meerza Sueyid Alee, of Sheeraz. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press, for the Bible Translation Society, and the American and Foreign Bible Society, 1851.
$500
Second edition limited to 2000 copies, 8vo, pp. 719; contemporary paneled calf, dark brown gilt-lettered calf spine labels, ex-Baptist Mission House Library with usual early 20th-century markings and bookplate on lower pastedown; edges scuffed and rubbed, else very good and sound.
OCLC locates only the Chicago copy in North America. Not in Darlow & Moule.
29. [Bible in Urdu.] Injil I Muqaddas, ya'ni hamáre khudáwand aur munjí Yisú Masíg ká nayá ahdnáma. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1900.
$150
First edition, 12mo, pp. 357, [3]; 8 leaves of color map plates; original terracotta cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt, all edges red, yellow glazed endpapers; edges and spine a bit darkened, Baptist Missionary Society Mission House Library bookplate to front pastedown; very good and sound.
Darlow & Moule 5330: "In 1893 a Committee representing seven different Missions began the task of revising the N.T., taking the 1878 edition of Mather's version, in roman character, as their basis, and conforming it to the Greek text underlying the English R.V. The work, in which thirteen scholars took part, was finished in 1898-9, H.U. Weitbrecht acting for nearly the whole time as Chief Reviser, and H.E. Perkins and F.A.P. Shirreff, both of the C.M.S., assisting in proof-reading."
30. [Bible in Urdu.] Injíl I Muqaddas, ya'ní hamáre khudáwand aur munjí Yisú' Masíh ká nayá 'ahdnamá. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1906.
$100
12mo, pp. 374; 8 leaves of color plates; original terracotta cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt, black glazed endpapers; edges scuffed and rubbed; front hinge cracked, Baptist Missionary Society Mission House Library bookplate on front pastedown, contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper verso; textblock mostly very good.
Darlow & Moule 5334: "The revised N.T. of 1900...received criticism from various quarters, and was submitted to further careful revision under the care of H.U. Weitbrecht before it reappeared in 1906."
31. [Bible in Urdu.] Injil I Muqaddas, ya'ne, hamáre khudáwand aur naját-denewále yisú' masí ká nayá 'ahd-náma. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1860.
$175
12mo, pp. 338; original green cloth, gilt-lettered spine, tan glazed endpapers; minor shelf wear, Baptist Mission House Library bookplate to front pastedown; very good and sound.
This revision of the New Testament by R.C. Mather originally published in 1845.
Darlow & Moule 5304.
32. Mission paper. Number fifteen. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. April, 1861 ... Easter hopes for missions. Faribault, [Minnesota]: Holly & Brown, 1861.
$125
8vo, pp. 8; removed from binding; some soiling and foxing, else very good or better.
Martin 356, locating two copies. OCLC adds no others.
33. Missionary paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number twenty-five. Lent, 1863 ... The frontier church, and Rev. Dr. Breck's visit to the east. Faribault, [Minnesota]: Alex. Johnston, 1863.
$100
8vo, pp. 7, [1]; removed from binding; very slight foxing, small nick in fore-edge of last page not affecting text; else very good or better.
Martin 473, locates only the MHS copy. OCLC adds no others.
34. Missionary paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number twenty-two. Trinity, 1862 ... The parish of the good shepherd. Faribault, [Minnesota]: Alex. Johnston, 1862.
$100
8vo, pp. 10, [2]; removed from binding; minor foxing, at one time was creased horizontally across middle; very good or better.
Martin 420, locates only the MHS copy. OCLC adds no others.
35. Missionary paper. By the Bishop Seabury Mission. Number twenty. Lent, 1862 ... An episcopal visit to the white fields of Minnesota. Faribault, [Minnesota]: Alex. Johnston, 1862.
$100
8vo, pp. 8; removed from binding; minor foxing, at one time was creased horizontally across middle; very good or better.
Martin 420, locates only the MHS copy. OCLC adds no others.
36. South China in the sixteenth century being the narratives of Galeote Pereira, Fr. Gaspar da Cruz, O.P., Fr. Martin de Rada, O.E.S.A. (1550-1575). London: Hakluyt Society, 1953.
$85
First edition, 8vo, pp. 12 plates, 8 sketch maps including a folding map at the back; original blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine; very good, sound copy.
A Portuguese soldier of fortune, a Portuguese Dominican friar, and a Spanish missionary visit China and the Philippines in the 1500s.
Issued as no. CVI in the Society's Second Series.
37. The life of Mahommed founder of the religion of Islam, and of the empire of the Saracens ... First Canada edition. Niagara: Henry Chapman, publisher - Samuel Heron, printer, 1831.
$250
8vo, pp. 121 [i.e. 112]; wrappers perished; small hole in the title page not affecting any letterpress, and with a few chips at the fore-edge; all else very good. A New York edition published by Harper & Bros. preceded this by a year.
This is the author's first book and the first American biography of Islam's founder, Mahommed. Bush, a graduate of Dartmouth and a student of theology at Princeton, was a Presbyterian missionary and later a professor of Hebrew and oriental literature at New York University. In 1845 he embraced Swedenborgianism and went on to write many defenses of his new faith. He translated and published the diary of Emanuel Swedenborg in 1845, and became editor of the New Church Repository.
38. [Catechism in Kalispel.] Szmimeie-s Jesus Christ. A catechism of the Christian doctrine in the Flat-Head or Kalispél language. [St. Ignatius,] Montana: St. Ignatius Print, 1880.
$200
8vo, pp. [4], 45, [1]; original paper wrapper perished, reinforced in stiff brown library card; pages toned and worn at edges, good. An Ayer Linguistics duplicate, with release stamp on title page.
"These works were put in type and printed by the Indian school boys at St. Ignatius.... About 225 copies of each were printed." Pilling identifies the author as Giorda per his correspondence with a superintendent of the school, Father Leopold Van Gorp.
Pilling, Salishan, p. 28; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 1558; Schoenberg, 7.
39. [Catechism in Mi'kmaq.] Le catechisme Micmac. Deuxieme edition. . Ristigouche P. Q.: Freres mineurs capucins Ste. Anne de Ristigouche, 1913.
$175
12mo, pp. 306, [2]; bound with: Gtapegiemgeoel. Cantiques. pp. 32; 112 zinc-block illustrations throughout; red buckram with gilt title on upper cover; red stained edges; light toning to lower cover, else near fine.
Text in Mi'kmaq translated by Pacifique, after the 1759 edition by Abbe Maillard.
Pacifique de Valigny, née Henri-Joseph-Louis Buisson, was a Capucin French missionary who wrote and published a number of religious materials for the benefit of the Mi'kmaq and Gaspe people.
40. [Catechism in Mi'kmaq.] Le catechisme Micmac. Deuxieme edition. Ristigouche P. Q.: Freres mineurs capucins Ste. Anne de Ristigouche, 1913.
$150
12mo, pp. 300; bound with: Gtapegiemgeoel. Cantiques. pp. 32; 111 zinc-block illustrations throughout; red buckram with gilt title on upper cover; red stained edges; near fine.
This edition has another variant with 6 additional pages including table of contents that is likely a later state (see above).
Text in Mi'kmaq translated by Pacifique, after the 1759 edition by abbe Maillard. Pacifique de Valigny, née Henri-Joseph-Louis Buisson, was a Capucin French missionary who wrote and published a number of religious materials for the benefit of the Mi'kmaq and Gaspe people.
41. [Catechism in Mi'kmaq.] Le catechisme Micmac. Deuxieme edition. . Ristigouche P. Q.: Capucins, 1913.
$100
12mo, pp. 128; bound with as issued: Gtapegiemgeoel [= Canticles]. pp. 32; 54 zinc-block illustrations; text in Mi'kmaq; green paper covered boards backed in blue cloth; covers lightly stained, very good.
The date on the cover is noted as 1921, though the text clearly comes from the same edition as other copies of the 1913 edition. It's likely that the gatherings were remainders bound just prior to the 1921 edition going to print. Pacifique de Valigny, née Henri-Joseph-Louis Buisson, was a Capucin French missionary who wrote and published a number of religious materials for the benefit of the Mi'kmaq and Gaspe people.
42. [Chinese.] Deutsch-chinesisches Hand-Wörterbuch mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Schantung-Sprach. Herausgegeben von Mitgliedern der Kath. Mission, Süd-Schantung. Jentschoufu: druck und verlag der Kath. Mission, 1906-07.
$350
First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. ix, [1], 572; [4], 573-1171, [1]; text in triple column; contemporary quarter sheep; institutional bookplate and stamps, pocket inside back cover of volume II; spines scuffed and rubbed, cracks starting at the extremities of the joints; text block very good.
A German-Chinese dictionary with special attention to the Shantung language. Published by members of the Catholic Mission, South Shantung.
OCLC locates 15 copies, only 3 (NYPL, Field Museum, and the University of Washington) in the U.S. Not in Vancil or Zaunmuller.
43. Les petits voyageurs en Californie. Tours: A. Mame & Cie, 1853.
$600
First edition, 12mo, pp. [4], 188; 8 chromolithograph plates (view of San Francisco Bay, redwoods, panning for gold, the shooting of a bear, etc.); original glazed pictorial chromolithographed boards by Engelmann & Graf, Paris; some soiling, hinges starting, but the binding is reasonably sound; all else very good.
[The] "adventures of a French furniture maker, M. Canton, in Gold Rush California. Emulating actual first-person narratives, it follows Canton from Le Havre to New York and then to Chagres and Panama, and his arrival in San Francisco. The novel continues with landing in San Francisco, getting settled, visiting Sutterville or Sacramento and seeing the mines. The author also included a description of the California missions" (Kurutz). Later editions appeared in 1856, 1857, 1859, and 1861. The book was available in at least 2 different styles of cloth bindings, another in chromolithograph boards showing a farm scene, as well as this nautically themed binding, also in chromolithographed boards.
Not in Howes or Graff. Sabin 12350; Kurutz 125.
44. Journal of the West China Border Research Society / 華西邊疆研究學會雜誌 Volume XVI, Series A. [Chengdu]: West China Border Research Society, 1945.
$75
8vo, pp. [4], 134, [6]; text largely in English with one paper in Chinese; 3 maps (2 folding) and 18 plates; printed paper wrappers; spine partially perished and reinforced with tape, light evidence of damping at top edge, text otherwise clean and sound, good.
Papers include a survey of the Shan including a word list, exorcism and the sacred books of the Ch'iang, Sakya Buddhism, the Lolo script, etc. Also included is a paper by Alexandra David-Neel on the "Rab Nes" rite. The Journal was to cease publication in 1945, as conditions for missionaries worsened during WWII.
45. [Chinese Missions.] The China mission hand-book. First issue. Taipei: Ch'eng Wen Publishing Company, 1973.
$75
Facsimile edition after the 1896 edition by the American Presbyterian Mission Press; 8vo, pp. [8], 92, [2], 335, [2], 12 maps showing missions in different districts, one folding map and three folding charts; full green cloth; fine.
The hand-book consists largely of various sketch reports for Chinese missions, recording their history, statistics, and conditions. Also included is a brief chapter on the Mission Presses.
46. [Chinese.] Francisco Varo's glossary of the Mandarin language. [Nettetal]: Monumenta Serica Institute, [2006].
$425
First edition, 8vo, pp. 583, [1]; [7], 586-1033, [1]; fine copy in original green cloth printed in white on upper covers and spines. Monumenta Serica Monograph Series LIII.
Volume I: An English and Chinese Annotation of the Vocabulario de la Ledngue Mandarina; volume II: Pinyin and English Index of the Vocabulario de la Ledngue Mandarina
"The first lexicographical work by missionaries was a Portuguese-Chinese dictionary compiled in the late 1500s by Francisco Varo (1627-1687), a Spanish Dominican based in the province of Fujian, was legendary for his superb mastery in Mandarin. His Vocabulario de la Lengua Mandarina, a Spanish-Chinese dictionary, is made available to modern readers in the present study, which is based on two manuscripts held in Berlin and London ... The Vocabulario is mainly devoted to the spoken language, but includes literary forms as well. Varo was also sensitive to other matters of usage, e.g., questions of style, new expressions coined by the missionaries, specific expressions in Chinese and in European culture, Chinese customs and beliefs, and aspects of grammar" (Routledge[dot]com).
47. Essai d'une bibliographie des ouvrages publiés en Chine par les Européens au XVIIe et au XVIIIe siécle. [Paris: 1883].
$60
8vo, extracted from Publications de l'ecole des langues orientales vivantes IIe Serie, vol IX: Mélanges Orientaux; pp. [3], 546; text in French with titles in hanzi and pinyin, recent full red cloth, black cloth label on upper cover titled in gilt; owner's seal label pasted onto section title, with the annotation "Conshen" next to it, text clean and sound, very good.
An annotated bibliography 196 entries largely "written by missionaries to educate inhabitants of the celestial empire on our religion and sciences."
Cordier (1849-1925) was born in New Orleans but spent most of his life in Paris. Cordier's published writings encompass 1,033 works in 1,810 publications in 13 languages. He is famous today for his groundbreaking bibliographies of China, Indochina, and Japan.
48. Guide de la conversation français-anglais-chinois. Guide to conversation in French, English and Chinese ... Seventh edition. Ho Kien Fou: Imprimiere de la Mission Catholique, 1904.
$425
Oblong 12mo (approx. 4¾" x 6"), pp. xxviii, 452; text largely in quadruple column; original half black morocco over green moiré cloth; stain on the front cover pervades the first 4 leaves of the preliminaries at the bottom margin, the whole lightly rubbed, else good, sound, and clean.
First published in 1886 with 204 pages, the book reached an 11th edition by 1926. It was expanded to 452 pages in the 6th edition of 1903.
49. Kiowa. The history of a blanket Indian mission. New York, Chicago [et al.]: Fleming H. Revell Co., [1915].
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. [3]-242; frontispiece and 12 plates; near fine in original pictorial red ribbed cloth stamped in black and white, and with no flaking of the white.
Crawford (1865-1961) spent nearly 11 years in the service of the American Baptist Home Mission Society.
50. Among the Sioux. A story of the Twin Cities and the two Dakotas ... Introduction by the Rev. David R. Breed. Minneapolis: The University Press, 1906.
$125
First edition, 12mo, pp. [10], 109, [1]; numerous illustrations throughout (many full-p.); hinges tender, extremities rubbed, covers soiled and rubbed, else a good copy or better in orig. blue cloth gilt.
A partial account of the history of the Sioux missions and missionaries and includes a section on Sioux storiettes.
51. Edwin Bainbridge. A memoir. With preface by Rev. W. F. Moulton, D. D. London: Morgan & Scott, n.d., [ca. 1887].
$85
First edition, 12mo., pp. 125, [3], [4] (ads); engraved frontispiece portrait, 11 full-page illustrations in the text (1 double page); spine ends slightly rubbed, otherwise a very good copy in original pictorial blue cloth, stamped in gilt and black.
This copy contains a cancelled slip tipped in at the title page stating that this has been published in Chicago and New York by Fleming H. Revell. Bainbridge worked as a missionary in New Zealand and was killed in the eruption of Mt. Tarawara, 1886.
52. Die Katholischen Missionen. St. Louis: B. Herder, bookseller and publisher, 1874-97.
$500
11 volumes in 7, comprising the years 1873-74; 1875, 1881, 1882, 1892-93, 1894-95, and 1896-97. Small folio, the first 2 volumes in original gilt-stamped green cloth, the balance in quarter calf over marbled boards; generally very good and sound. Rubberstamps of "Franciscan Residence" but no other markings. Illustrated throughout, largely with wood-engravings, some full-page plus a number of maps.
News on Catholic missions worldwide, issued for a German-speaking audience. The Katholischen Missionen was a bi-monthly publication and ran from 1873 to 1998.
53. [Dorr Rebellion.] A concise history, of the efforts to obtain an extension of suffrage in Rhode Island from the year 1811 to 1842. Providence: Benjamin F. Moore, printer, 1842.
$250
First edition, 12mo, pp. [9], 6-171, [1]; original green cloth-backed green paper-covered boards, printed paper label on upper cover; ex-Newport Historical Society (released) with its pressure stamp on title page and last page of text; occasional spotting and foxing; all else very good.
With the ownership signature on the title page of "B. Diman."
Jacob Frieze (1789-1880), a Universalist minister from New England, was an early missionary to North Carolina. After retiring from the ministry he became a Rhode Island political journalist, reporting on, and participating in, the events culminating in the Dorr War, 1842.
American Imprints 1920; Bartlett, p. 129; Parks 363 noting the second edition only.
54. [Chinese.] Chinese-English dictionary of the vernacular or spoken language of Amoy, with the principal variations of the Chang-Chew and Chin-Chew Dialects. London: Trubner & Co., 1873; [but Taipei: Ku-t'ing Book Store, 1970].
$250
First dictionary of Amoy, based on the manuscript vocabulary prepared by the Rev. J. Lloyd, the American Presbyterian missionary, and edited and enlarged by Douglas; large 8vo, pp. xix, [1], 612;
bound with: Supplement to Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, by Thomas Barclay. Shanghai: Commercial Press, Limited, 1923 [i.e. Taipei: Ku-t'ing Book Store, 1970], pp. [4], iv, [2], 276.
Together, 2 volumes in 1 in original black cloth-backed green paper-covered boards, publisher's slipcase. Photo-reprints of the 1873 and 1923 editions respectively. Near fine throughout.
55. English-Tibetan dictionary containing a vocabulary of about twenty thousand words with their Tibetan equivalents. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press ... and published by the University, 1919.
$75
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiv, 989, [1]; original brown cloth stamped in gilt on the upper cover and spine; some light worming on the last gatherings, the hinges strained due to the heavy nature of the textblock, dampstain on lower cover, extremities chaffed, especially along the spine; a good copy of an uncommon dictionary.
Not in Zaunmuller.
56. [Cantonese.] A Chinese-English dictionary in the Cantonese dialect ... Revised and enlarged by Immanuel Gottlieb Genähr of the Rhenish Missionary Society. Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1910-11.
$1,250
2 volumes, folio, pp. xviii, xlvii, [3], 696; [4], 697-1417, [1]; text in double column; charts of initials, list of radicals, and index; contemporary quarter black morocco, gilt-stamped spines; condition internally is basically very good to fine; the binding is rough, however, with old repairs, and a few leaves of the prelims in volume I are extended, but generally it's clean, sound and useable. The 47-page supplemental volume of radicals, characters, clan names, and index is bound in as part of the preliminaries in volume I.
" ... [A] new dictionary on the basis of the works published by Kanghi, Dr. Legge, and Dr. Williams." --Preface to the 1st edition, dated 1877 (p. [5]).
Ernst (or Ernest) Johann Eitel (1838-1908) was a German-born Protestant who became a notable missionary in China and civil servant in British Hong Kong, where he served as Inspector of Schools from 1879 to 1896.
57. The old Spanish missions of California. San Francisco: Paul Elder and Company, [1913].
$225
First edition, 4to, pp. v, [1], 89, [1]; numerous tipped-in photographic plates, original paper-covered boards, lettered in gilt with a photographic plate on upper cover, preserving the original printed dust jacket with a chip out at the top of the spine and general wear; internally clean; overall, a good and sound copy.
An historical and descriptive sketch chiefly illustrated from photographs by Western artists, such as Vroman, Tibbitts, and Dassonville.
58. [Taiwanese.] A dictionary of Southern Min based on current usage in Taiwan and checked against the earlier works of Carstairts Douglas, Thomas Barclay and Ernest Tipson. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Language Institute, 1973.
$225
4to, pp. xlv, [1], 305, [1]; printed from typescript; lexicon in double column; generally a fine copy in original brown cloth, gilt-stamped spine.
A September 15, 1974 NY Times article notes that "The editor of the dictionary Bernard L. M. Embree, and predecessors on the project did their research and compiling in Taiwan over a 10-year period. When the book was completed in 1972, permission to publish was denied by the nationalist Government, and the Romanization was cited as the reason. The Government ordered all print shops not to handle the dictionary. Mr. Embree then had the manuscript taken to Hong Kong, where it was published last year by a sister institution of the Taipei Language Institute. In recent months some copies have been brought into Taiwan -- an act that Government officials refer to as smuggling, since no import licenses were obtained. For a time, the book was on sale at a Taipei bookshop, but the copies were soon confiscated by the police, who have since been seeking to establish how the book entered Taiwan. Mr. Embree is currently on home leave in Canada, but some Chinese associated with the project have been questioned."
59. Poems on several occasions, with some other compositions. Philadelphia: printed by John Dunlap, in Market-Street, 1772.
$250
First edition, 8vo, 2 parts in 1; pp. xxviii, 160, 24; original full speckled calf; joints cracked, front board neatly reattached, head of spine chipped with minor loss; textblock toned; some foxing. Bookplates of the Peabody Institute and the Library Company of Baltimore, both with release stamps.
The preface is signed William Smith. With the sectional title page Sermons on Various Subjects. "On the Death of Rev. Nathaniel Evans," is signed "Laura" [i.e. Elizabeth Ferguson].
Among the subscribers are Tench Cox, the printers Hugh Gaine and Isaiah Thomas, both of whom took 25 copies, and Oliver Goldsmith of London.
Evans 12386; Hildeburn 2770; Sabin 23179; Wegelin 33.
60. One hundred years of Dominican Apostolate in Formosa 1859-1958. Extracts from the Sino-Annamite letters, Dominican missions and ultramar ... Translated into English by Felix B. Bautista and Lourdes Syquia-Bautista. Taipei: SMC Publishing Inc., [1994].
$75
Reprint of the original Philippine edition of 1959; 8vo, pp. [4], iv, 315, [1]; 41 illustrations on rectos and versos of 10 plates, largely from photographs, and 3 full-page maps; fine copy in the dust jacket.
61. In the valley of the Yangtse. London: London Missionary Society, 1899.
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. xii, 216; numerous illustrations throughout including halftone, wood engravings, and drawings; original pictorial red cloth stamped in black and gilt; binding slight soiled, spine a touch sunned; all else very good, sound and clean. With a large London Missionary Society presentation slip on front pastedown presenting this copy to a Welsh Sunday School.
"Amy Foster (née Jackson) was born on 26 May 1856. She was appointed as a missionary with the London Missionary Society to Hong Kong, and sailed in 1878. She was married to Rev Arnold Foster, also an LMS missionary (Wuchang, China), on 22 June 1882 at Union Church, Hong Kong. Rev Foster was appointed Honorary Missionary to Hankow in 1884. In 1889, they removed to Wuchang and took charge of that station. In February 1900, Mrs Foster opened a Girls' Boarding School. In 1910, Rev Foster was chosen as first member of the Advisory Council for Central China. In 1911, Mrs Foster became a member of the District Committee, continuing to live in Wuchang and taking part in that work until 1918. From 1915 to 1918, Rev Foster was Hon. Pastor of the Hankow Union Church. In 1918, they moved to Kuling, where Rev Foster died on 30 July 1919. Amy Foster died in 1938" (archiveshub).
62. [Francis Xavier, Saint.] Xaveriana. Lisboa: Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos, 1964.
$100
8vo, pp. x, 703, [1]; fine in original printed gray wrappers.
Schurhammer (1882-1971) was a German Historian of Catholic Missions in Asia, especially of Francisco Xavier. This is a supplement, of sorts, to his 5-part biography of Francis Xavier (1955-73).
63. Origen de los indios de el nuevo mundo e Indias Occidentales, averiguado con discurso de opiniones.. Madrid: Francisco Martinez Abad, 1729.
$2,500
Second edition, edited, and brought up to date by Andres Gonzales de Barcia Carballido y Zuniga, who had resided twelve years as a missionary in America.
Folio, pp. [32], 1, 8-336, [80]; vignette title-p. showing ships approaching a coast, engraved portrait of Thomas Aquinas, 5 small engravings in the text; contemporary and probably original full limp vellum, spine lettered in ms.; nice copy.
With the letterpress bookplate on the verso of the title-p. of Dr. D. Miguel Tafur (i.e. Miguel Tafur y Zea, 1766-1833), the noted Peruvian medical doctor whose biography is given by Juan Lastres in Vida y obras del Dr. Muguel Tafur (Lima, 1943).
One of the earliest compilations concerning the origin of the native American. Garciaís opinion was that the American Indians descended from various races of the old world, including Chinese and Tartars. "But all his learning on this subject is of less value than the positive facts concerning the native tribes, which he drew partly from his own experiences in the New World, and partly from a MS. work by Juan de Vetanzos (one of the companions of Pizarro, and a man specially skilled in the native languages), which was in the possession of Garcia, and which has never been published. The fifth book of Garciaís work contains the native Indian accounts of their origin, and is divided into sections which treat separately of the various distinct tribes of Mexico and Peru."
Medina IV, 2713; Borba de Moraes I, 346; Sabin, 26567: "a work of vast erudition. All that has ever been imagined as to the origin of the Americans, and the manner in which this New World was peopled, is gathered here."
64. Narrative of a journey to the Zoolu country, in South Africa ... undertaken in 1835. London: William Crofts, 1836.
$850
First edition, 8vo, pp. iv, 412; hand-colored lithograph frontispiece, 25 lithograph plates (1 hand-colored), 2 folding maps; mild dampstain enters text at top and bottom, original green cloth, gilt-lettered spine, the whole rebacked and recased, with the original spine laid down; a good, sound copy.
On this, his first journey as a missionary, Gardiner (1794-1851) established the first missionary station at Port Natal. "From 1834 to 1838 he was engaged in earnest endeavours to establish christian churches in Zululand, but political events and native wars combined to prevent any permanent success" (DNB).
Mendelssohn I, p. 587; Abbey, Travel, 332.
65. "The song of the eastern snow mountain," as contained in Bibliotheca Indica, A Collection of Oriental Works published by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, New Series, no. 1426. [Translated and "lexicographically treated" by Johan Van Manen]. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press and published by the Asiatic Society, 1, Park Street, 1919.
$100
8vo, pp. [6], 86; mostly unopened; text in Tibetan and English; original printed wrappers; very good, sound, and clean.
"It has remained one of his most popular and enduring verse works. In it he advised his followers to restrain themselves from responding to the violence with more violence, and instead practice compassion and patience.” It is a prayer in dedication to his gurus but most importantly Lama Tsongkhapa. Written during an extended retreat above Nartang Monastery when he was 50 years of age (approx. 1441), shortly after having a vision of Tsongkhapa. Gendun Drub “was in a quandary as to what to do for he was in meditation retreat and did not wish to break it. There was sectarian conflict in the region he was in, and 'Overwhelmed with sadness, he offered a prayer to his gurus and in particular Lama Tsongkhapa and his chief disciples. Suddenly Tsongkhapa appeared to him and resolved all his doubts.' This is his dedication prayer from that experience" (Tibetal Buddhist Encyclopedia).
66. [Vietnamese.] Dictionnaire Annamite-Francais comprenant 1. tous les characteres de la langue Annamite vulgaire... 2. les characteres Chinois... 3. la flore et la faune de l'Indochine. Saigon: Imprimerie de la Mission a Tan Dinh, 1898.
$950
"Deuxieme edition," (but actually the first - see below), 4to, pp. [8], 987; extra title page in Chinese and Vietnamese; the half-title is reinforced in two places with old paper tape on the blank verso, the Chinese title with phonetic translation in pencil, penultimate leaf remargined and last leaf reinforced on blank verso, pages browned throughout, several neat repairs within; contemporary half black cloth over marbled boards.
Genibrel's preface states that the work is based on "un excellent petit Dictionnaire Annamite-francais sans characters, dont l'auteur, Mgr. Caspar, eveque et vicaire apostolique de la Mission de Hue, etait alors simple missionaire a Saigon. C'est cet ouvrage qui a servi de Canevas a notre travail; voila pourquoi nous lui avons donne le titre de deuxieme edition."
Not in Zaunmuller; not in Vancil; no earlier edition located in either OCLC or NUC.
67. Old Chinatown. A book of pictures. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1913.
$1,500
First edition thus, first published in 1908 with fewer illustrations; 8vo, pp.[4], vii-ix, [1], 208, [2]; 90 photographic images by Genthe, 70 full-page; original black cloth stamped in gilt, the binding fit into a hand-made outer cover of full blue brocade cloth, trimmed in chintz, and with a gilt cloth applique with beads and Chinese amulets - almost certainly a Chinese binding, and likely made in San Francisco's Chinatown. There is some peeling and rubbing of the cloth, a couple of short tears, the beads and amulets are a bit unwieldy, but this is a rather remarkable survival, made important by the inscription.
This copy with a lengthy inscription "To my Comrade of the stirring life we now live in New Chinatown from one who lived loved and wrought lang syne in Old Chinatown. Faithfully ever, Donaldina Cameron / San Francisco / May Second 1917."
"Donaldina Cameron (1869-1968) was a New Zealand-born American Presbyterian missionary who was a pioneer in the fight against slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown, who helped more than 2,000 Chinese immigrant girls and women escape from forced prostitution or indentured servitude. She was known as 'Fahn Quai' or the 'White Devil' of Chinatown, as well as the 'Angry Angel of Chinatown' and 'Lo Mo'." (See Wikipedia for a lengthy account of her remarkable life.)
68. A dictionary of the Kalispel or Flat-Head Indian language, compiled by the missionaries of the Society of Jesus. Part I: Kalispel-English. Part II: English-Kalispel. St. Ignatius Print, Montana: 1877-8-9.
$3,500
First edition, 3 vols. in 1; 8vo, pp. [4], 644; [8], 456; [4], 36; appendix to the first volume with separate title page at the back; later three-quarter green morocco over green cloth sides, gilt decorated spine in 6 compartments, red morocco label in 1, t.e.g., others uncut; near fine throughout. Engraved bookplate of Rt. Rev. Nathaniel S. Thomas (1867-1937), second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming, serving from 1909 to 1927.
"The author owes much to the manuscript dictionary of Rev. G. Mengarini, who, first of all the Jesuit missionaries, possessed himself of the genius of this language, and, besides speaking it with the perfection of a native Indian, reduced it also to the rules of grammar" (Preface).
Pilling, Salishan, p. 28; Schoenberg, Jesuit Mission Presses, nos. 3, 4, and 5: "Considered one of the greatest mission press publications in American history. It represents years of labor by three of the best scholars of Indian language ... There has been some speculation about the number of Kalispel dictionaries printed. The exact number is not known. Palladino reports that fifty copies were printed especially for libraries in America and Europe ... Other copies, for missionary use, probably amounted to [another] fifty."
69. "Through the heart of Brazil." A diary of incident and adventure, during a gospel expedition of about 5,000 miles by river, rail, and road, in an around Brazil, with some information about the interior Indian tribes. Liverpool & London: The South American Evangelical Mission, n.d., [ca. 1906].
$85
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], iv, 135, [1]; 29 illustrations from photographs and a map in the text, plus a few drawings; some soiling and minor rubbing, else very good in original red cloth.
70. Journal d'un séjour en Abyssinie pendant les années 1830, 1831, et 1832 … Publié par le comité de la Société des Missions de Genève et précédé d'une introduction historique et geographique sur l'Abyssinie.. Paris: J. J. Riser; Geneva: Suzanne Guers, n.d., [ca. 1834].
$250
8vo, pp. viii, 438; engraved frontispiece portrait and a folding map; contemporary full calf, red morocco label on gilt-paneled spine; front joint cracked, cords holding; a good copy, internally fine.
"Samuel Gobat (1799-1879) was a Swiss Calvinist who became an Anglican missionary in Africa and was the Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem from 1846 until his death ... After serving in the Reformed St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission [de] at Bettingen from 1823 to 1826, he went to Paris and London, whence, having acquired some knowledge of Arabic and Ge'ez, he went out to Ethiopia under the auspices of the Anglican church with the Church Missionary Society ... His journal of his stay in Ethiopia (Sejour en Abyssinie) was published in 1835 at Paris, and later translated into English as Journal of Three Years' Residence in Abyssinia" (Wikipedia).
71. A pocket dictionary (Chinese - English) and Pekingese syllabary ... Eleventh thousand. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1918.
$125
16mo, pp. vii, [1], 237, [1]; [2], 70 (radical index); lexicon in double column, index in 6 columns; original half black calf, gilt-lettered direct on gilt-paneled spine; binding slightly skewed, else very good, sound, and clean. Early ownership signature of Effie G. Young.
Chauncey Goodrich (1836-1925) a descendant of Noah Webster, was a missionary serving under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Peking. He sailed to Shanghai in January 1865, joining the North China Mission. He spent over 60 years as a missionary in China primarily in the fields of education and translation. He was professor of astronomy and Christian evidences at the North China College at Tung Chou and in the Gordon Memorial Theological Seminary at the same place, of which he was dean for twenty-five years. He was also overseer of a boys’ school in Peking which grew in his day from a school of twelve pupils to one of over six hundred. His first translation was that of a portion of the Gospels into Mongol. He also was the translator of the Bible into Mandarin.
72. The inventor of the numeral-type for China by the use of which illiterate Chinese both blind and sighted can very quickly be taught to read and write fluently. London: Downey & Co., 1898.
$75
First edition, 8vo, pp. 161, [3]; final leaf containing a book list with canceled prices; portrait frontispiece, text illustrations, tables, and examples of Murray's type; original yellow cloth, brown lettering and decoration; tipped in is the 12th Annual Report of the Mission to the Chinese Blind, Glasgow, 1899, pp. 24, [5]; printed self-wraps. Boards toned and lightly soiled, hinges and upper free endpaper weak, owner's signature on endpaper, good.
73. Trente ans aux portes du Thibet interdit, 1908-1938. Hongkong: Imprimerie de la Société des Missions Etrangères, 1939.
$450
4to, pp. [8], 388, [2]; 4 maps (1 folding), 67 photo-mechanical illustrations on rectos and versos of 14 plates; bound in quarter tan niger, spine in 5 compartments, gilt-lettered direct in 3, original pictorial upper wrapper bound in; lightly rubbed; very good and sound.
This copy with a lengthy presentation from the author on the half-title "To Mr. Penfield, consul des Etats Unis en souvenir de son passage dans les Marches thibetaines, 1937, hommage respectment Francis Goré."
"The first part gives an account of exploration in Tibet, and the history, politics, and religion ... Part 2 [contains] a history of the Catholic Missions in Tibet during the period 1900-1920 and others; Part 3 [contains] the Chinese-Tibetan frontier region after 1920" (Yakushi).
Yakushi G192.
74. Western Mandarin or the spoken language of western China = 西蜀方言. Shanghai: Shang hai da xue chu ban she, 2017.
$75
Large 8vo, pp. [4], 3, [1], 5, [7], 803, [1]; covers a little spotted, else fine in original brown laminate boards lettered in gilt.
This is a facsimile of the Shanghai 1900 edition, both a dictionary and a spoken language textbook for missionaries to learn the local language. It more completely reflects the status of the Western Sichuan dialect at the end of the 19th century, involving many aspects such as pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, folk customs, etc.
75. [Kurux.] Kurukh folk-lore in the original. Collected and transliterated by.... Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1905.
$150
First edition (printed in an edition of 350 copies), small 4to, pp. [4], iii, [1], 108; original green cloth, gilt lettering on upper cover; very good.
Texts entirely in Kurux [i.e. Oraon / Uraon / Kurukh], a northern Dravidian language collected by German Evangelical Lutheran missionary at Chota Nagpur who, "during more than twenty years' residence at Lohardaga in the midst of an Orao population the author of the Kuruhk Grammar and the Kuruhk-English Dictionary has made a collection of about seventy stories, more than one hundred and fifty songs, besides a large number of riddles in use among the Oraos of that part of Chota Nagpur.
"This collection had to be sifted on account of the ambiguousness of some of the stories, the triviality of many of the riddles, and the doubtful morality in most of the songs ... The present volume contains therefore only a selection ... which, however, will be sufficient to answer the purpose of placing into the hands of the student of the Orao language a text book which has been written entirely by members of the people to whom it is the mother tongue" (Introduction).
76. Trekking among Moroccan tribes. London: Pickering & Inglis, 1948.
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. 192; 13 photographic illustrations on plates, several in color; slight rubbing to jacket, else near fine.
Haldane was an English missionary in Morocco.
77. Memoir of the Rev. Jacob Thomas, missionary to Assam. New York: Edward H. Fletcher, 1850.
$125
12mo, pp. 241, [5]; full blindstamped green cloth, gilt title on spine; boards lightly soiled, text cocked and foxed, dampstain in upper gutter, good. Thomas left for Assam in 1836 and died only a year later in 1837 in a boat accident.
78. [Hawaii.] History and general views of the Sandwich Islands' mission. New York: Taylor & Dodd, 1839.
$500
First edition, 12mo, pp. 268; original brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine; spine ends a little cracked and bare spots neatly inpainted; modest foxing; old library label removed from spine; old manuscript ex-libris on blank flyleaf reading "No. 159 David Whitcombs Apprentice Library, Templeton, 1848; a good, sound copy.
Forbes 1141: "The text contains two parts. The first two chapters are on the early history of the Islands up to the visit of Captain Cook. Chapter III, Introduction of Christianity, discusses Hawaii between Captain Cook's death and the arrival of the first missionaries … Following this is a general history of the progress of the mission…"
American Imprints 55361; Sabin 19991.
79. Tibetan manual ... Revised by Edward Amundsen. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press and published by the Inspector General of Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, 1903.
$675
First edition, tall 8vo, pp. [6], ii, [4], 118; 129, [1]; original green cloth stamped in gilt on spine and upper cover; waterstain pervades at the fore-corners, with dampstains in the corners of the preliminaries and terminals, and the spine slightly dull; in all, a good, sound copy.
Basic Tibetan grammar, including conversational phrases on times and the seasons, the weather, relations, food and drink, buying a turquoise, smoking, paying a visit, conversations with a teacher, while traveling, the house, meals and table, as well as a 129-page English-Tibetan vocabulary.
80. Notions techniques sur la propriété en Chine avec un choix d'actes et de documents officiels. Chang-hai: imprimerie de la Mission catholique, 1897.
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 200; text in Chinese and French; perforated stamp in title page, library stamps and accession numbers on verso; later black paper wrappers with new printed label on upper cover; very good and sound. Issued as no. 11 in the publisher's Variétés sinologiques series.
About thirty documents in Chinese with parallel French translation. "In 1882 ... we had collected ... models of deeds of contract and other documents ... and we had composed a book of them in Chinese ... We published the same year a pamphlet in Latin: De legali dominio ... In 1891, we published the first [appendix] ... The edition of these various works being exhausted ... we undertook a French edition ... The translation of the Latin text was made by the p. J. Bastard, and that of the Chinese tests, by p. J. Tobar" (preface).
81. [Kannada.] An elementary grammar of the Kannada, or Canarese language; in which every word used in the examples is literally translated, and the pronunciation is given in English characters ... Second edition. Bangalore: Wesleyan Mission House, 1864.
$400
8vo, pp. vii, [1] ads, 128; spine and spine label faded, else very good and sound in original brown cloth.
First published in 1859. This is based on McKerrell's "valuable but chaotic" manuscript grammar, "which was for years laid aside as useless, has now been carefully revised ... many additions and improvements have been introduced into the second edition" (Preface).
82. A sermon preached at the parish church of St. Andrew by the Wardrobe and St. Anne, Blackfriars, on Tuesday in Whitsun week, June 4, 1811, before the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, instituted by members of the Established Church, being their eleventh anniversary. London printed: Boston: reprinted and sold by Samuel T. Armstrong, 1811.
$35
8vo, pp. 28; later wrappers, front wrapper separated but present; very good. At the head of the title: "Second American Edition."
American Imprints 23403; Afro-Americana 4959.
83. Letters and other papers of Fr. Ippolito Desideri, S.J., a missionary in Tibet 1713-21, as in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal. Letters. Vol. IV,1938, no. 4. Issued 30th December, 1939. [Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1939].
$150
Offprint, 8vo, pp. 567-767 (i.e. 200 pages); original wrappers bound in; recent blue cloth, printed paper labels on upper cover and spine; near fine.
84. [Hymns in Chinook.] Hymns in the Chinook jargon language. Second edition revised and enlarged. Portland, Oregon: David Steel, 1889.
$175
16mo, pp. 40; original printed pink wrappers; about fine.
"This little book is an interesting monument of missionary labor, full of suggestion as to the manifold difficulties to be encountered in the attempt to Christianize the Indians of America." Chinook hymns and English translation on opposite pages.
Smith 2760; Graff 1219; Pilling, Chinook, p. 26.
85. [India.] Narrative of a journey through the upper provinces of India, from Calcutta to Bombay, 1824-25, (with notes upon Ceylon,) an account of a journey to Madras and the southern provinces, 1826, and letters written in India. London: John Murray, 1828.
$1,250
First edition, 2 volumes, 4to, pp. xv, [1], [4] subscriber list, [xvii]-xlvii, [1], 631, [1]; vi, [2], 515, [1]; frontispiece portrait, map of India hand-colored in outline, 10 plates, plus 25 wood-engravings in the text; slightly later full green russia a bit scuffed and rubbed, but sound; plates with occasional mild foxing.
Herber (1783-1826) was Lord Bishop of Calcutta, and highly important in the missionary work then being done in India. He completed the erection and full establishment of Bishop's College, Calcutta and "traveled indefatigably through all parts of his unwieldy diocese, not only performing diligently his episcopal duties, but also healing differences and cheering the hearts and strengthening the hands of Christian workers wherever he went" (DNB).
Lowndes II, 1030-31: "A highly valuable, interesting, and most delightful work."
86. A discourse in commemoration of the forty-sixth anniversary of the Mite Society and the two hundred and fifteenth anniversary of the First Baptist Church in America. Providence: John K. Stickney, 1854.
$125
8vo, pp. 32; original printed wrappers bound into half brown morocco over marbled boards, gilt-lettered direct on spine.
Inscribed on the front wrapper to "Rev. S. Adlam, with the kind regards of the author."
The Mite Society (founded 1806) is the oldest missionary society in Rhode Island. Jackson (1798-1863) was born in Providence and graduated from Brown in 1817. He served various ministries in Massachusetts and Connecticut before settling in Newport in 1847 where he remained for the rest of his life. "During the ministry of Dr. Jackson he was actively engaged in the cause of religion and education" (Bartlett).
Bartlett, p. 166.
87. Lepers. Thirty-one years' work among them being the history of the mission to lepers in India and the East, 1874-1905 ... With a short introduction by the Dowager Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava. London: Marshall Brothers, n.d., [ca. 1906].
$150
First edition, 8vo, pp. xviii, 390, [2] ads; frontispiece portrait, 2 folding maps and 32 photographic illustrations on 29 plates; spine slightly sunned, else very good in original red cloth. This copy inscribed to "... with kind regards from the author, 5.3.06."
Covers work of the mission in India, Burma, Ceylon, China, Japan, and Sumatra.
88. A Tibetan-English dictionary with special reference to the prevailing dialects. To which is added an English-Tibetan vocabulary. London: [printed by Unger Bros (Th. Grimm), Berlin], 1881.
$850
First edition of the second Tibetan-English dictionary published; large 8vo, pp. xxii, [2], 671, [1]; early 20th century brown cloth-packed marbled boards, gilt-stamped spine; some toning but still a very good, sound and mostly clean copy.
Heinrich Jaeschke (or Jäschke), one of the greatest western pioneers of Tibetan studies, "was a German-born Moravian missionary and scholar of the Tibetan language. From 1857-1868 he was based near the Tibetan border at Kailang in northern India. Together with fellow missionary August Wilhelm Heyde, Jaeschke collected plants in the region of Rupshu and Lahaul. J.E.T. Aithchison's paper, "Lahul, its Flora and Vegetable Products etc" (Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany, 1868) was based on Jaeschke's studies, and the genus Jaeschkea Kurz was named in his honour. Jaeschke also worked on a Tibetan translation of the Bible and other linguistic works, including the precursor to this, his Romanized Tibetan and English dictionary printed by lithography in British Lahoul in 1866. He lived in Germany from 1868 onwards" (Global Plants).
This is not the first Tibetan-English dictionary. That honor goes to Sándor Csoma de Kőrös (1784-1842), a Hungarian. His dictionary was published in Calcutta by the Baptist Mission Press, in 1834.
Not in Vancil; Zaunmuller, 377.
89. [Tibetan.] A Tibetan-English dictionary, with special reference to the prevailing dialects. To which is added an English-Tibetan vocabulary.. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., 1934.
$65
8vo, pp. xxii, [2], 671; front hinge starting else a very good copy in original red cloth, gilt-lettered direct on spine.
Reprint of the 1881 edition, "prepared and published at the charge of the secretary of state for India in council." The compiler (1817-1883) is described on the title page as being the "late Moravian missionary at Kyelang, British Lahoul" in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
90. Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, ecrites des missions etrangeres, par quelques missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus. IX. Recueil. Paris: Nicolas Le Clerc, 1711.
$450
First edition, 12mo, pp. [24], 431, [11]; contemporary full calf, gilt-decorated spine in 6 compartments, red stained edges; spine label perished, boards rubbed and upper board starting, upper pastedown lifting, ex-St. Stanislaus Novitiate House Library, Guelph, Ont. (closed in 1971) with labels and a bookplate on upper pastedown, and shelf label on spine, text clean, good and sound.
Volume IX contains letters on: "Oracles of the demons of the Indies"; missions to Madure; The death of Father Broissia in China; observations on the English in Peking; etc.
One volume of the 34-volume collection of Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1703-1776). "These volumes, issued regularly by the Society of Jesus, presented selections from correspondence and reports written by Jesuit missionaries then scattered around the globe" and reflected "the continued interest in France in the progress of the Jesuit missions in various parts of the world. The termination of the series reflects the suppression of the Society of Jesus by papal decree" (James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368). Collectively they provided some of the most thorough reporting on China in particular to Western audiences of the period.
Howes L 299; James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368.
91. Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, ecrites des missions etrangeres, par quelques missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus. XV. Recueil. Paris: Nicolas Le Clerc, 1722.
$650
First edition, 12mo, pp. xl, 418, [10]; folding map of the southern coast of India; contemporary full calf, gilt-decorated spine in 6 compartments, red stained edges; small split on lower joint; ex-St. Stanislaus Novitiate House Library, Guelph, Ont. (closed in 1971) with labels and a bookplate on upper pastedown, and shelf label on spine, text clean, good and sound.
Volume XV contains letters from: Jean Venance Bouchet on Bisnagar, Ganga, Madras, Goa, Visapour, etc.; d'Entrecolles on Chinese medicine and industry; Ippolito Desideri on his voyage to and description of Tibet; Turpin on the Indian production of cotton, etc.
One volume of the 34-volume collection of Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1703-1776). "These volumes, issued regularly by the Society of Jesus, presented selections from correspondence and reports written by Jesuit missionaries then scattered around the globe" and reflected "the continued interest in France in the progress of the Jesuit missions in various parts of the world. The termination of the series reflects the suppression of the Society of Jesus by papal decree" (James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368).
Collectively, they provided some of the most thorough reporting on China in particular to Western audiences of the period, as well as early and first-hand accounts of Native American life..
Howes L 299; James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368.
92. Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, ecrites des missions etrangeres, par quelques missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus. XVII. Recueil. Paris: Nicolas Le Clerc, 1726.
$500
First edition, 12mo, pp. xxxiv, [2], 446, [14]; contemporary full calf, gilt-decorated spine in 6 compartments, red stained edges; spine label perished, boards rubbed and upper hinge starting; ex-St. Stanislaus Novitiate House Library, Guelph, Ont. (closed in 1971) with labels and a bookplate on upper pastedown, and shelf label on spine, good and sound.
Volume XVII contains letters on: Letters from Dominique Parennin on his work in China, recounting the conversion of the imperial princes; missionary work in Southeast China (Macao and Fokien); Chinese interest in Western medicine and the Tartar language; work with the Abenakis in the American Northeast, including war with the English, by Sebastien Rasles, along with an account of his death; and description and uses of Chinese rhubarb.
One volume of the 34-volume collection of Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1703-1776). "These volumes, issued regularly by the Society of Jesus, presented selections from correspondence and reports written by Jesuit missionaries then scattered around the globe" and reflected "the continued interest in France in the progress of the Jesuit missions in various parts of the world. The termination of the series reflects the suppression of the Society of Jesus by papal decree" (James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368). Collectively they provided some of the most thorough reporting on China in particular to Western audiences of the period.
Howes L 299; James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368.
93. Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, ecrites des missions etrangeres, par quelques missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus. XX. Recueil. Paris: Nicolas Le Clerc, 1731.
$450
First edition, 12mo, pp. xlviii, 449, [17]; contemporary full calf, gilt-decorated spine in 6 compartments, red stained edges; spine label perished, boards rubbed and lower board starting, ex-St. Stanislaus Novitiate House Library, Guelph, Ont. (closed in 1971) with labels and a bookplate on upper pastedown, and shelf label on spine, text clean, good and sound.
Volume XX contains letters from: Dominique Parennin on missionary work in the Chinese court; Maturin le Petit on the religion, lifestyle, medicine, government etc. of the Natchez people around New Orleans; Lombard and Fauque on their work in French New Guinea; Dentrecolles on art and flower arrangement of China; Margat on guineafowl and turkey, and converting slaves and native people of St. Dominique.
One volume of the 34-volume collection of Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1703-1776). "These volumes, issued regularly by the Society of Jesus, presented selections from correspondence and reports written by Jesuit missionaries then scattered around the globe" and reflected "the continued interest in France in the progress of the Jesuit missions in various parts of the world. The termination of the series reflects the suppression of the Society of Jesus by papal decree" (James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368).
Collectively they provided some of the most thorough reporting on China in particular to Western audiences of the period, as well as early and first-hand accounts of Native American life.
Howes L 299; James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368.
94. Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, ecrites des missions etrangeres, par quelques missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus. XXV. Recueil. Paris: Le Mercier & Boudet, 1741.
$400
First edition, 12mo, pp. xxxii, [8], 486, [2]; contemporary full calf, gilt-decorated spine in 6 compartments, morocco labels in 2, red speckled edges; ex-St. Stanislaus Novitiate House Library, Guelph, Ont. (closed in 1971) with labels and a bookplate on upper pastedown and shelf label on spine, light wear to boards, very good.
Volume XXV contains letters on: Missions to Paraguay, including comment on the language of the Chiquites; Nicobar and Carnate, India; Vietnam; trials of the Missionaries to China; and the revolutions of Thamas Koulikan (Nadir Shah) of Iran.
One volume of the 34-volume collection of Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1703-1776). "These volumes, issued regularly by the Society of Jesus, presented selections from correspondence and reports written by Jesuit missionaries then scattered around the globe" and reflected "the continued interest in France in the progress of the Jesuit missions in various parts of the world. The termination of the series reflects the suppression of the Society of Jesus by papal decree" (James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368).
Howes L 299; James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368.
95. Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, ecrites des missions etrangeres, par quelques missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus. XXVII. Recueil. Paris: Nicolas Le Clerc, 1749.
$450
First edition, 12mo, pp. xliii, [5], 480; folding plate of chayaver plant; contemporary full calf, gilt-ruled spine in 6 compartments, red stained edges; spine worn, upper joint starting, lower flyleaf loose, large tear to plate neatly mended on verso; ex-St. Stanislaus Novitiate House Library, Guelph, Ont. (closed in 1971) with labels and a bookplate on upper pastedown, and shelf label on spine, text clean, good and sound.
Volume XXVII contains letters from: Margat on missionary activity in St. Domingue, and Fauque in French Guiana, plus an account of persecution in China.
One volume of the 34-volume collection of Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1703-1776). "These volumes, issued regularly by the Society of Jesus, presented selections from correspondence and reports written by Jesuit missionaries then scattered around the globe" and reflected "the continued interest in France in the progress of the Jesuit missions in various parts of the world. The termination of the series reflects the suppression of the Society of Jesus by papal decree" (James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368).
Collectively they provided some of the most thorough reporting on China in particular, as well as early and first-hand accounts of Native American life.
Howes L 299; James Ford Bell Catalogue, L-368.
96. A voyage to Abyssinia, by Father Jerome Lobo, a Portuguese missionary. Containing the history, natural, civil, and ecclesiastical, of that remote and unfrequented country, continued down to the beginning of the eighteenth century: with fifteen dissertations on various subjects, relating to the antiquities, government, religion, manners, and natural history, of Abyssinia. By M. Le Grand. Translated from the French by Samuel Johnson, LL.D. To which are added, various other tracts by the same author, not published by Sir John Hawkins, or Mr. Stockdale.. London: Elliot & Kay, and C. Elliot, Edinburgh, 1789.
$850
Second edition; first translated into English, by Johnson, in 1735 (his first book), 8vo, pp. [4], 500, [2] ads; bound without the half-title mid-19th century green cloth, gilt-lettered direct on spine; spine browned and with cracks at extremities, otherwise good and sound.
The preface is by George Gleig (1753-1840) which is "not devoid of interest. In it he condemns the 'uncommonly numerous' blunders of the printer in the 1735 version, and girds at the edition of the works of Dr. Johnson which was edited by Sir John Hawkins and John Stockdale in 13 volumes (1787)" (Courtney & Smith). Available separately at 6s. in boards, and also issued as part of The Works of Samuel Johnson by the same publishers, 1789.
Courtney & Smith, p. 3-4; Chapman & Hazen, p. 165: Fleeman 35.2LV/2.
97. [Sanskrit.] The Nalo'daya; or, history of King Nala: a Sanscrit poem...accompanied with a metrical translation, an essay on alliteration, an account of similar works, and a grammatical analysis. By W. Yates. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1844.
$375
8vo, pp. xiv, 404; text illustrations; original brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine; ex-Baptist Mission Society House Library with usual markings, front hinge starting to crack, spine head a bit chipped, horizontal crack across top quarter of spine between spine title words "Yates's" and "Nalodaya"; interior mostly fine. Text in Sanskrit and English. OCLC locates 2 copies in the United States, at Rochester and the Newberry.
98. L. D. M. F. Sapeoig oigatigen tan tetli gomgoetjoigasigel. Alasotmaganel, ginamatineoel ag getapegiemgeoel ... Manual of prayers, instructions, psalms & hymns in Micmac ideograms ... new edition. Ristigouche, P. Q.: The Micmac Messenger, 1921.
$375
8vo, pp. 456; yellow buckram boards, red stained edges; near fine. This is the earlier state of the second edition, which does not print the introduction.
Mi'kmaq ideograms are the oldest known native writing north of Mexico, and were adapted for the use of Catholic missionary work in the 17th century. The first attempt at printing a book of religious instruction in Micmac heiroglyphs was fraught with difficulty, took almost ten years to produce, and a large number of the resulting books were lost at sea.
99. La Chine d'Athanase Kirchere de la Compagnie de Jesus, illustrée de plusieurs monuments tant sacrés que profanes, et de quantité de recherchés de la nature et de l'art : a quoy on à adjousté de nouveau les questions curieuses que le serenissime grand duc de Toscane a fait dépuis peu au P. Jean Grubere touchant ce grand empire : avec un dictionaire [sic] chinois & françois, lequel est tres-rare, & qui n'a pas encores paru au jour. Amsterdam: chez Jean Jansson à Waesberge & les heritiers d'Elizée Weyeratraet, 1670.
$5,000
First edition in French of Kircher's popular China Illustrata (first published in Latin in Rome, 1667; folio, pp. [16], 367, [13]; added engraved title page has imprint: Amstelodami, Apud Johannem Janssonium à Waesberge et Elizeum Weyerstraet, 1667; printer's woodcut device on title page, 24 engraved plates including 2 double-page maps, numerous engraved illustrations in the text, plus miscellaneous woodcuts, woodcut ornaments, etc. throughout; lacking the portrait of Kircher; full contemporary calf, gilt decorated spine in 7 compartments, morocco label in 1, sprinkled edges; the prelims and terminals a bit foxed, but the text on the whole very clean.
"China Illustrata is a compilation of missionaries' notes and journals. Kircher readily acknowledges in the preface his debt to his colleagues in China and India for their information, but the book is liberally sprinkled with Kircher's own philosophy. Kircher compiled a detailed and considerably accurate account of Chinese geography, history, culture, and language, and, as his readers had learned to expect, the book is filled with delightful engravings illustrating the curious habits of the Chinese" (Merrill).
Brunet III, 666-67; Cordier, Sinica 26-27; Lust, Western Books on China, 38 citing the French quarto edition of the same year; Merrill 20 (for the first edition of 1667).
100. A historical account of St. Thomas, W.I., with its rise and progress in commerce; missions and churches; climate and its adaption to invalids; geological structure; natural history, and botany; and incidental notices of St. Croix and St. Johns; slave insurrections in these islands; emancipation and present condition of laboring classes. New York: Charles Scribner, 145 Nassau Street, 1852.
$650
12mo, pp. xii, [1], 14-271, [1]; tinted lithograph frontispiece of Charlotte Amalie, folding map of the island by H. B. Hornbeck, M.D. in Danish; original brown blindstamped cloth, gilt-lettered spine; cloth cracked along the upper joint, spine a bit dull, one gathering extended, and the map miscreased; all else good and sound.
This copy with a whacky reader's extensive annotations on the preliminaries and also a number of pages within.
Starting on the title page, in pencil: "A forgery. I heard today that this book was written by a little crown prince's noble royal son, March 8, 1929. Crown prince Stephen Bond Pelton's father when he was very small he went with his father to the West Indies as his father wished to attend business for the people but was persecuted by the [?] crowd - the rena[gades]."
[On the verso of title:] "Later after they left and he became a crown lawyer in Nova Scotia - the book was stolen by the renagades that had gone to Farlings [?] Cape to hide away as they had killed so many valuable people in Nova Scotia. They are now in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and mean to set up slave business but the law had put a stop to their evil work. They want to have a lot of babies to make slaves of them to make money. They are not ashamed of their evil work. The royal people cannot earn money and work so hard to give eye-sight to their evil babies, for them to be [?] and kill good people."
[On the first page of preface:] "This preface was written by Crown Prince Stephen Bond Pelton's father when he was very small. It shows great intellect - and it is a great pity that the true book was stolen because the true book did bring out true facts and would just [?] a lot of lies."
Another 15 lines at the end of the preface note that Pelton's son is in Yarmouth, that his father "is here in D-mark, and that his royal noble grandfather wrote this book before he was sixteen years old, and that when they were "in the West Indian Islands they were persecuted by the renagades, that hard oathes to behave themselves - they were sent there to work on their crimes."
And at the top of Chapter One: "The Historical Society of the World fines the writers of books that are not written truthful - this book is not covered - it is out a page of the renagade life ... it was just written by a little crown prince that went to St. Thomas and at his island's wish his noble royal."
On p. 64: "Priest wanted to teach the people to be criminals, he led to steal or kill. The priest was a renagade - very ignorant person." On p. 77: It was the old [?] crowd that did all the evil deeds - they are insane people - they did bad. The slaves converted and educated. They wanted them ignorant like themselves," and so on for another 5 pages or so throughout the remainder of the text.
The reader/annotator is anonymous, but given the rough English and the reference to "D-Mark" we might assume him to be a Dane. St. Thomas was largely under Danish control until sold to the United States in 1917.
The writer, in fact, was not a 16-year-old crown price but rather John P. Knox who "was born in Savannah, Georgia on July 26, 1811. He got his education at Rutgers College and Seminary. From 1837 to 1841, he was pastor of the Reformed Church at Nassau, New Providence (in the Bahamas). For ten years he was a pastor of the Reformed Church on the island of St. Thomas in the West Indies. While at St. Thomas, Knox wrote [this] history of the island and helped promote education. One young boy, Edward Blyden, grew up to become an ambassador for the Republic of Liberia, the first modern state in Africa" (First Presbyterian Church of Newtown).
Sabin 38170