1847 Sandwich Islands (Hawaii): Civil, Religious, Political, H. Bingham, No Map

Description: A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands; Or, The Civil, Religious, and Political History of Those Islands: Comprising A Particular View of the Missionary Operations Connected with the Introduction and Progress of Christianity and Civilization Among the Hawaiian People. By Hiram Bingham, A.M., Member of the American Oriental Society, and Late Missionary of the American Board. Hartford. Hezekiah Huntington. New York. Sherman Converse. 1847. First Edition, 6 plates (not including frontis), MAP LACKING, 616 p., 9.35 x 5.75”, 8vo. In poor condition. As is. Rear board LACKING (no replacement board). Front board scuffed at edges and worn/bumped at corners with cloth peeling. Head of spine lacking (including headband); bottom quarter of spine (including tail) lacking, binding exposed. Gilt lettering on spine dulled & soiled, but legible. Front board is attached by cloth only, VERY fragile. Leaf covering front paste-down lacking, board exposed. Foxing and toning throughout text-black, mostly to preliminaries and plates. Ink stain found on fore-edge of text-block, mostly impacting pages 519 - 600. Binding is fragile, instances of exposed cording throughout text-block. Rear end-page and fly-leaf attached by cording only, fragile. Rear end-page & fly-leaf are also scuffed/chipped at fore-edges & exhibit soiling. Binding is VERY FRAGILE, REAR BOARD LACKING. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham I (1789 – 1869), was leader of the first group of American Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian Islands. Like most of the missionaries, he was from New England. Bingham and his wife arrived first on the island of Hawaii in 1820, and sailed on to Honolulu on Oʻahu on April 19. In 1823, Queen Kaʻahumanu and six high chiefs requested baptism. Soon after, the Hawaiian government banned prostitution and drunkenness, which resulted in the shipping industry and the foreign community resenting Bingham's influence. Bingham wrote extensively about the natives and was critical of their land-holding regime and of their "state of civilization". He supported the introduction of market values along with Christianity: historians now reference his writings to illustrate the imperial values that were central to the attitudes of the United States towards Hawaii. Bingham became involved in the development of the spelling system for writing the Hawaiian language, and also translated parts of the Bible into Hawaiian. Bingham designed the Kawaiahaʻo Church in Honolulu on the Hawaiian Island of Oʻahu. The building, constructed between 1836 and 1842 in the New England style typical of the Hawaiian missionaries, is one of the oldest standing Christian places of worship in Hawaiʻi. Bingham used his influence with Queen Kaʻahumanu to instigate a strongly anti-Catholic policy in Hawaii, considerably impeding the work of the French Catholic missionary Alexis Bachelot (1796-1837) and resulting in decades of persecution of those Hawaiians who converted to Catholicism. This was motivated by opposition to the spread of French influence in Hawaii as well as by the religious Protestant-Catholic rivalry and enmity. This is the first edition of one of the most informative books on Hawaii during the early missionary years. Bingham was instrumental in developing the idea that Cook's acceptance of the apparent worship of the Hawaiians in 1779 was largely responsible for his death, writing 'we can hardly avoid the conclusion, that for the direct encouragement of idolatry, and especially for his audacity in allowing himself like the proud and magisterial Herod to be idolized, he was left to infatuation and died by the visitation of God.' First Edition, As-Is. FORN-SHELF-0599-BB-2408-HK1985

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End Time: 2024-09-15T15:51:15.000Z

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