"DO NOT CEASE TO PRAY FOR ME… AND FOR THE POOR IGNORANT PEOPLE AT OWHYHEE": FIRST EDITION OF THE MEMOIRS OF HENRY OBOOKIAH, 1818

(OBOOKIAH, Henry, a.k.a. OPUKAHAIA, Heneri). [DWIGHT, Edwin Welles, editor]. Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, a Native of Owhyhee, and a Member of the Foreign Mission School… [WITH] BEECHER, Lyman. A Sermon Delivered at the Funeral of Henry Obookiah… [AND] HARVEY, Joseph. The Banner of Christ Set Up. A Sermon. Delivered at the Inauguration of the Rev. Herman Daggett. [AND] DAGGETT, Herman. An Inauguration Address. New-Haven: Religious Intelligencer, 1818. 12mo, original blue-gray paper boards respined, uncut. $2200.

Scarce true first edition of the first biography of the Native Hawaiian and Christian convert whose story inspired the earliest American mission to Hawaii, 1818, with engraved frontispiece portrait—the only known likeness of Opukahaia—in original boards.

One of the first Hawaiians to convert to Christianity, Henry 'Opukaha'ia (or Opukahaia) fled the violence of the Unification Wars as a teenager and landed in New Haven where, as the story has it, Edwin Welles Dwight found him sitting on the steps of a Yale building, weeping because "No one will give me learning." Dwight and members of his family—including Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College—tutored Opukahaia, who became the first student at the Foreign Mission School, "a special school to prepare natives of heathen countries for missionary service" (Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography) and then the first known Pacific Islander to study at Andover Theological Seminary. Opukahaia was dedicated to the goal of bringing Christianity to Hawaii; he translated the Book of Genesis into Hawaiian and began work on an English-Hawaiian dictionary for missionary use, but contracted typhus and died in 1818 before being able to complete the project. E.W. Dwight edited and published his letters and diaries, and the widely-circulated work quickly became a motivating force for the first American mission to Hawaii. Accompanying the Memoirs here (as issued) are Lyman Beecher's sermon delivered at Opukahaia's funeral, Joseph Harvey's sermon at the inauguration of Herman Daggett as the first principal of the Foreign Mission School, and Daggett's address at the school opening. This 1818 first edition was printed as a fundraiser for the Foreign Mission School shortly after Opukahaia's death and is now uncommon. Shaw & Shoemaker 43896. See Sabin 56429 (listing 1819 editions only). Early inked owner's name.

Contents with minor toning and spotting, one leaf with lower outer corner torn away (not touching text), some offsetting from frontispiece. Boards lightly worn, spine refurbished. A lovely copy of this uncommon work, desirable in original boards.